Council emergency budget lashed

11.52.56pm BST (GMT +0100) Sun 11th Jul 2010

Liberal Democrats have strongly criticised news of an emergency budget at Welwyn Hatfield council - revealed in last week's WHT.

Malcolm Cowan, their resources spokesperson said 'When the Tories presented their budget in the spring we warned the numbers did not add up. We voted against the budget because it didn't add up. In a blatant campaign of misrepresentation the Tories then claimed we had voted against a council tax freeze, which was totally untrue.

'We suspected it was budget solely to help win an election. How right we were - just two months after the election, they have been forced to rewrite their sums. But instead of admitting they were wrong and we were right, they have used the oldest trick in the book - blame the government.'

'The recent story about possibly switching to fortnightly bin collections is clearly part of the desperate attempt to save money.

'We should be getting an apology from the Tories, but I suspect it will be a long wait.

For further information, contact Malcolm Cowan on 01707-324723