Lambeth Liberal Democrats: out of touch and cost you more

Lambeth Lib Dems, out of touch and illegal!

An alternative budget put forward by Lambeth Lambeth’s Liberal Democrat Councillors was declared virtually illegal by council officers. Whilst Lambeth Labour presented a budget that invested money to make Lambeth a safer place and stabilise its finances, Liberal Democrats were engaging in fantasy economics.

Four years of Liberal Democrat incompetence has meant that when Labour took over in May 2006, the council was on the verge of bankruptcy. Amazingly, Liberal Democrats proposed to do the same again this year and forced council officers to issue them with a warning. Just as they did when they were in power, the Lib Dem opposition put forward proposals that were uncosted and would endanger the ability of Lambeth council to deliver basic services. Labour councillors voted their proposals down.

Once again showing how out of touch they are with local residents, the Liberals also proposed to sell off the old Lilian Baylis School site to private developers, which is currently a popular community resource AND to stop any plans to build a new school in the Shakespeare Road site. In addition, they also put forward proposals that would keep sub-standard housing in a state of disrepair.

Labour has been able to keep council tax down in Lambeth with a small increase of 4.99%. That keeps Lambeth in the bottom half of London boroughs when it comes to council tax. In contrast the last Lib Dem Budget promised to increase council tax in 2007-08 by 6.35%.

Councillor Jim Dickson, Labour Cabinet Member for Finance on Lambeth Council, said:

“Whilst Labour has put forward proposals that put more police on the beat and invest in youth services, Lambeth Lib Dems have just put forward proposals that would bankrupt the council and put services in jeopardy.”

“If they were in power they would have hiked up lambeth council tax by 6.35%, but Labour has kept it down. The Lib Dems are out of touch with what people want and STILL committed to stinging Lambeth residents with punitive council tax increases.”

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