Political row breaks out over council budget

Jan 13 2011 by Alistair Watson, West Lothian Courier

WEST Lothian Council leader Peter Johnston said his administration’s budget protected “people’s priorities”.

But Labour councillors have warned that the budget will hurt West Lothian.

Councillor Johnston said the budget focused on people most affected in “tough times” — young people, older people and vulnerable people.

He added: “Thanks to the financial mess made by the last Labour Westminster Government this has been the most difficult budget West Lothian Council have ever had to put together.

“I am grateful to council staff and our wider community for their active engagement in our “Tough Choices” programme and strongly believe that this community consultation, the biggest ever conducted in West Lothian, has put us in the strongest possible position to face up to the financial challenges imposed on us by the Westminster Government cuts in public spending.

“My colleagues and I have listened very carefully to the views put forward during our near-nine months of consultation and having reflected on these I believe we have delivered a council budget very much in line with our peoples’ priorities.

“Our people’s priorities are clearly reflected in our enhancement of education, our protection and improvement of services for the elderly and vulnerable, our commitment to making West Lothian a cleaner and greener place to live and our determination to keep our communities safe and strong.

“And thanks to the genuine engagement by our staff and unions we are now able to commit to maintaining our no compulsory redundancy policy for the lifetime of this administration, so giving genuine job security in these difficult times. Indeed our administration budget proposals save 115 council jobs.”

However, the Labour group on West Lothian Council are predicting that the effects of the budget cuts will be felt in every town and village in the county.

Commenting on the budget, West Lothian Council Labour group leader Councillor John McGinty said: “The SNP budget will also mean that at least a further 228 full-time equivalent jobs will be lost from the council; this is in addition to the 194 full-time equivalent jobs that have been lost at West Lothian Council over the six months between March and November 2010, giving a total of over 400 full-time jobs lost.

“The SNP budget cuts will hit West Lothian hard. They will be felt in every community in the county and, as we see under the SNP, the council will have shed over 400 jobs by the time this budget ends.

“The budget grant the council got from the Scottish Parliament for the 2011/12 year is only £1.157m less than this year’s budget and yet the SNP have made over £15m worth of cuts.

“They have to explain why the SNP Government in Holyrood is not giving West Lothian enough money to cover things like the cost of inflation, meaning that services have to be cut and jobs lost instead.

“Everybody knows that we are in tough economic times and Labour would have spent more money on protecting jobs and frontline services by cutting things like the council’s use of expensive consultants and cutting out the council Bulletin newspaper by looking at different ways to get information to citizens.

“The SNP are trying to spin a £16m cut in the money available to West Lothian and the loss of over 400 jobs as somehow being a good deal for the area, but they are in for a shock when their cuts start to bite.”

However, Councillor Johnston hit back.

The SNP councillor said: “They did not raise any of these points in the council chamber on Tuesday, which you would think was the place to do it.

“Their own amendment to the budget didn’t seek to reinstate any of these things.

“They are criticising us for job losses but at least our budget saved 115 jobs while they did not seek to reinstate anything from the Tough Choices proposals.

“They are barely fit to be in opposition let alone aspire to be a future administration.”

Jane Ridgway, chair of the Joint Trade Union Committee, gave a cautious response to the budget.

She said: “The JTUC believes that the council’s emphasis on continuing to provide first class services for the local community, particularly for the most vulnerable and deprived communities is correct.

“The JTUC also welcome the fact that there will be no compulsory redundancies. “However, the JTUC are aware that further cuts to jobs and services are inevitable over the next few years and will continue to work with the council to explore options that will reduce costs but protect services, jobs and our members’ terms and conditions.”