FOLLOWING lasts weeks Cabinet meeting Thurrock Conservatives have struck back at Labour’s so called graph of doom of central government funding.
Conservative Leader Rob Gledhill said “I would like to say I am shocked that the Leader of the Council has resorted to describing the amount of taxpayers money it receives as a ‘graph of doom’. However since 2010 we have had nothing but this kind of scaremongering and sound bites from Thurrock Labour rather than leadership and transformation. The Labour leader is clearly still in denial that the reduced council grant is because up until 2010 his Labour government was spending more money than it was receiving in tax running up a massive national deficit. So instead of wasting time bemoaning about how much less taxpayers money the council has to spend, Thurrock Labour should get on with the job of working out how best to utilise the money and resources it does get. Simply put if they don’t want to do the job under a Conservative Government then they should step aside and let those who are happy to take control."
Since 2010 the two successive governments that have made clear that there will be less taxpayers subsidy to local authorities to help reduce the deficit. Despite reduced direct funding Thurrock has received over £150 million for infrastructure improvements such as the widening if the A13 and improvements to junction 30/31 on the M25. Other sources of Income like the pupil premium means more money direct to schools supporting pupils in disadvantaged areas.
Conservative Deputy Leader Cllr Halden added "Labour can’t tell the difference between cuts and efficiency. For example, we have less council money for school improvement than 2010, yet our schools (which are now mainly run by academies and out of council control) have improved since then. Maybe that says more about how local government spends money under Labour than it does about how much it has to spend!"
