Lib Dems slam 'Smoke and Mirrors Budget' from the County Council

1.36.03pm UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 17th Feb 2006

Liberal Democrat Leader Cllr Peter Blaine when speaking at this weeks full Council Meeting at Bedfordshire County Council slammed the councils budget as a 'Smoke and Mirrors Budget'.

The Tory Cabinet Member for finance in his speech said there was £5m of investment in Adult Services. When looking deeper into the budget and then breaking down the so called investment in the budget £1.43million is funded due to the number of adults requiring care, £1.8million is due funded by grants, £2.1 million is due to inflation - none of these are 'investment'. In this department there are also £1.9million pounds of efficiency savings. In the investment column there is a 0 - this is not investment.

Liberal Democrat Leader Cllr Peter Blaine speaking after the Council meeting said 'We are very worried that the Tory run County Council is hiding the lack of investment in Adult Social Care, many of the efficiency savings are yet to be made, and this all could have a knock on effect in the standard of care for our aging population.'

NOTE TO EDITORS: The Liberal Democrat Group Voted against the Budget