Budget rivals face deadlock

Adam Hewitt • Published 18 Feb 2010 11:00 0 Comments

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RIVAL politicians have staked out opposing positions ahead of next week's budget and council tax negotiations - and compromise already looks near impossible.

Reading's ruling Labour group on Monday proposed a 2.2% council tax rise and an extra £5.9m for hard-pressed social services.

But it needs at least one of the other parties to back its budget or abstain to get it passed and Tory leader Cllr Andrew Cumpsty says Labour's plan is unacceptable.

He told The Chronicle: "We have been consistent in calling for a freeze on council tax, that's the minimum we'll be looking for this year.

"It's disappointing to see the controlling Labour group are going to have an increase."

He praised Tories in Windsor and Maidenhead who are cutting council tax by 4%, adding: "That just shows what can happen with real determination and leadership."

He refused to say which of Labour's spending plans should be ditched to pay for the tax freeze, but promised instead a performance improvement programme across the whole council to save money.

But as reported in our sister paper the Reading Midweek, this is already happening. Labour's budget includes £7.3m in savings including £0.9m from the council's value for money programme, but the financial officials' report says £0.9m is the maximum possible "without risk to service delivery".

Lib Dem leader Cllr Kirsten Bayes said she needed time to examine Labour's budget, but said: "If the Conservatives vote down everything that's put forward, it inevitably makes compromise really hard. We as a council have a legal requirement to set a budget and if we don't, then children's centres and assistance for vulnerable people just stop."

She did not rule out supporting the Conservative call for a freeze, but said she needed figures showing how they would do it - something which never emerged when the Tories took the same position last year, and Labour and the Lib Dems ended up voting for a compromise 3.99% increase.

The decision should be made at Tuesday's full council meeting at the Civic Centre at 6.30pm - but last year's negotiations took more than 10 hours and three meetings.

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