Talking Politics by Councillor Keith Swift

Well, after a healthy debate at the Annual Meeting of the Budget Council, I am delighted to announce that this Council are enforcing the lowest Council Tax increase for a decade. Your Council Tax will rise by 3.9% - this is lower than last year when Labour and the Tories were in coalition. Interestingly enough it was only weeks ago that Labour were calling the Liberal Democrats 'irresponsible' for keeping Council Tax low. Labour were proposing a 4.9% increase through the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee and are now made to look hypocritical through their headline seeking attempts.

This is your money and as Council Leader - Alan Taylor stated at the meeting - we need to spend that money responsibly and strive for best value. I found the whole process interesting - Councillor David Clayton has it right when he stated that 'This was a Three-Star Council, with a one star opposition.' Councillor William Hobhouse, who is proving an excellent Cabinet Member for Finance made this point that Labour and the Conservatives are still in coalition and I'd agree. Some of their amendments to the Budget Council were identical and they voted together on every issue except the Tories traditional amendment on getting rid of one union representative. Even the failed Tory Leader admitted that this was the wrong thing to do and for the first time in a long while - Labour voted against the Conservatives.

I was delighted that the Budget was passed but I have to admit that the Labour Party's attempt at headline grabbing was a sign of desperation. For decades Labour have either been in power of part of power and their failure to cut the amount of Cabinet places, parking and other things says it all - opportunism. Only last April they were proposing a luxurious pension for themselves until they lost power.

My job is Cabinet Member for Townships and Corporate Management, this has been a busy time for us and I would like to pay tribute to our hard working Council Officers who go the extra mile to do their jobs. In this area we have seen a lot of change - we have devolved as much power as possible to our Townships. This illustrates a Council commitment to localised decision making. We have doubled their budgets, this means an extra £130,000 plus to communities in the Pennines and Rochdale. We are also showing a commitment to being a listening Council - opposed by the Opposition Coalition. Our new 'People's Champion' Department will revolutionise the way this Council delivers its services. It will deal with complaints that people have against this Council and assist Councillors in the way they carry out their roles. For more info on our campaigns please look at our Website - www.rochdalelibdems.org.uk