[g jones]

As many will know the Tories handed over power to Labour after 8 years at the helm last week. I thought I'd write to put some numbers and scale of the horror finances they have left.

1. In the last 12 weeks they racked up £5.2m of promises without the money to pay for them.

2. They failed to balence last years budget raiding the reserves to the tune of £300,000. A figure Labour now has to find to pay back last year AND find savings for every year.

3. The Tories planned on 5% Council Tax rise so they could make a promise of 0% this year. Labour has said it will be 0% this year so that's another £300,000 to find.

4. The Tories nationally have cut next years Government grant by £2.2million

5. The Cabinet Action fund for this years emergencies has all been deliberatly spent in month one , April leaving nothing for the remaining 11 months. The schemes themselves having not applied and not submitted any written proposal or VFM

6. Ditto Big Society grants -'all spent in month one April. Nothing left for the remaining 11 months in what appears to be a desperate money throwaaway-fest.

7. In 8 years little investment in Council services. £1m bill has been left to replace old bin and recycling wagons. Nothing has been put aside.

8. They all had been lining their pockets with large allowance needed up by multiple extra allowances.

All in the cuts must equate to the loss of 100 Council jobs at £3million, or one in five going. Then there are the cuts for each of the two years following on top.

The spending promises and legacy cuts alone equate to a Council Tax increase almost 60%. To gauge the scale of it all, the cuts equate to another 50% on the Council Tax.

None of this was a surprise. The outgoing Council had been mismanaging Council finances for years and were always going to be politically vindictive.

It was never about the public or voters and that's why it had to end.

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