Call for talks over council's promises

Dec 18 2008 by Dave Black, The Journal

Warnings ignored

OPPONENTS of a single super council for Northumberland said yesterday their warnings about the consequences of such a move were coming home to roost.

Blyth Valley Labour MP Ronnie Campbell said the Government had been fed a “pack of lies” about the benefits of a single unitary, and said the former Labour administration at County Hall should be “absolutely ashamed of themselves”.

“Government ministers didn’t take our warnings on board that all of this talk about world-class services and £18m efficiency savings was wrong. The current situation is not the fault of the Lib Dems, because it was brought about by my bunch at County Hall. Promises made in the bid are not going to be kept and it is increasingly clear the Government was hoodwinked.”

Berwick Lib Dem MP Sir Alan Beith said: “This is a row within the Labour Party, as it was the Labour Government who forced the single unitary on Northumberland with promises of benefits which we knew were completely unrealistic.

“The Liberal Democrats are now having to cope with the consequences of a decision which the Labour government has no intention of reversing.”

Castle Morpeth Council Conservative leader, Peter Jackson, said the Government had accepted completely unrealistic financial plans in the unitary bid, which didn’t take into account the real cost of change.

But he said the Lib Dem administration now had a responsibility to take the successful bid forward, not go back on commitments which had been made on services, council tax and devolution of power.

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