Budget Measures 'plucked out of the air' say Lib Dems!

Leader of the Liberal Democrats Councillor Alan Taylor has slammed Labour and The Conservatives for "cobbling together a budget in just under 10 minutes on the back of Cllr. Robert Clegg's fag packet" at last night's Rochdale Council Meeting.

Councillor Taylor said, "This is a huge year for the Council, months of secret meetings between Labour and The Conservatives led to a panic 10 minute meeting between the 2 parties right at the 11th hour. I am happy that Liberal Democrat pressure led to cuts at Touchstones and Petrus being shelved. I would like to see a clear commitment from the 2 parties that they won't target them again."

Councillor Taylor continued, "What confidence can anyone have in this new budget? To adjourn the meeting 2 hours into it - just to meet as a coalition is wrong, it just illustrates the gaps in this budget. It was funny seeing them disagree slightly, the ugly sisters had a tiff but made up in minutes. We have in this year's budget a massive council tax rise with massive rent increases. This lot couldn't run a recycling bank,let alone a council."

The Council agreed to a Council Tax rise of 4.62% and a massive rent increase for Council Tenants of 5%. This is as well as making major cuts to many frontline services. The Liberal Democrats were cynically excluded from the Budget Process by the Labour / Conservative Coalition.

A Liberal Democrat Motion to Postpone the budget for further consultation was rejected by the Coalition. This led to Councillor Alan Taylor accusing the Council of adopting a "Pennine Acute Trust style of consultation."