Glenn Goodall

The so-called “Brown bounce” has gone. Nationally Labour thought they were on the road to recovery last autumn when their poll ratings went up. Since then Labour support has slumped yet again.

People are fed up that Labour failed to see the massive problems with the economy. They are angry that Labour – and especially Gordon Brown – allowed this mess to happen.

The Times printed on 10 February,

Labour and Gordon Brown have continued to fall sharply in the polls … The Liberal Democrats are up 3 points…

Locally, Reading Labour aren’t much better. They pushed through a 1.9 % rise in council tax last year – the great voter bribe – and now we are paying for it! Cuts in spending are going to needed in the coming year, just to get through the economic down turn. Yet they were unwilling to negotiate on our tiny £780K reduction this year, that in a £120 million budget!

Again I’ll point out the three points of our amendment, all paid for by identified budget reductions and freezing of councillor allowances:

1. Reduce the Council tax as far as possible, we were told 3.9% was it by the Director of finance.
2. Put an extra £400,000 into the reserves – after Labour had been raiding them, year-on-year
3. Targeted service improvements:

• Bulky waste collection discounts
• A “Green Hit Squad” – 2 people and a van to tackle fly tipping
• A communications budget for the local police Neighbourhood Action Groups (NAG)
• More speed guns for the police – to target hot-spots

Many have turned to the Liberal Democrats. They know that Nick Clegg’s party was the first to see the economic problems that Gordon Brown failed to stop happening. And they like the Lib Dem call for income tax cuts to help people through the recession and boost the economy.

I believe they also understand what we’ve tried to do locally in trying to reducing the council tax increase to 3.9 %, which is as low as the Director of Financial would allow. Yet Labour saw fit to vote it down and rant at us for even suggesting it.

If you feel the same, join us now! You can join on-line.