26/07/10 - Trafford Labour group let slip their desire for frontline redundancies

Trafford Labour group let slip their desire for 600 frontline council staff redundancies and massive cuts to frontline services in major gaffe at 14 july council meeting

Labour councilors have resisted radical moves to ensure better and more efficient services for Trafford’s residents at  14th July Council meeting.

In a move that attempted to take the Council back to their days in control of the council where budget pressures were simply ignored by overspending (£21m between 2002 and 2004), they opposed the Conservative administration’s  efficiency programme, designed to produce more efficient, effective and better services, that will also save £ 18m over the next 2 years .  To date, Trafford& 39;s procurement programme alone has saved a huge amount of money to the taxpayer and other efficiencies have also meant that front line services are protected- for example large landfill taxes have been avoided by more efficient waste collection and recycling and council tax collections have been far more efficient. This has necessitated  some up front  investment, but in other areas, investment has been cost neutral- for example, the new corporate director appointment, needed to help boost investment/jobs in the borough. Here, Trafford has brought the cost of management down, removing 27 posts two years ago, saving £2m.

Speaking afterwards, leader of the Council, Matthew Colledge said ‘ This Conservative Administration has gone from strength to strength since 2004 and faced with some of the pressures in the public sector, we intend to go further. Labour are stuck in the past, with a philosophy that saw services damned by independent inspectors as ‘weak’ and ‘all but collapsed’

Alex Williams, deputy leader of the council, said  & 39;& 39;Labour really are a shambles-they have just admitted that they want to withdraw investment in efficiency, saving money and protecting front line services. Estimates point to the need for 18m of savings over the next 2 years. Without being more efficient, at least 600 frontline jobs in the council would be axed if labour were in control. Local conservatives are, instead, continuing to invest in more efficient ways of working and value for money to protect the front line from the funding cuts resulting from the last government& 39;s economic failures.& 39;