After explaining that the Joint Budget Scrutiny Meeting video had been held up by a technical problem, Tamworth Borough Council has finally published it. Aren’t we glad they did, because if you watch it you’ll see just what a bunch of incompetent liars the lot of them are. We’d love your feedback on the meeting which is 51 minutes long and just a short part of your day to take a look at what Labour voters have saddled the town with.
Highlights:
This meeting was chaired by the very surly condescending and bored Councillor Chris Bain who took great delight on giving his Labour colleagues the benefit of the doubt and backing up, (sometimes in fact having to make up for) the poor responses from his colleagues. This doesn’t bode well for his future tenure as Mayor in 2025 where Councillors will be chastised for daring to have an opposing opinion as he did during this meeting.
Carol Dean leader of the council not understanding how council budgets work and stating that they were very concerned when they took control as there would be a deficit in 2028/29. This had to be explained to her by Councillor Martin Summers who derided her dramatic statement as nonsense since the council would never know how much government money they would get that far ahead. Summers even managed to sneak in a statement in what was meant to be a follow up question stating that it was maybe her inexperience in running a council that caused her to say this.
Carol Dean taking several political potshots which were basically lies, about the state of council finances which were very much in a good place when the Conservatives left power. Not only were the books balanced, the investments made under the Tories watch had provided them with a surplus, to add to the circa £26 million still in the bank from the golf course and not just frittered away. Naturally none of which was mentioned, with Dean taking her national parties stance of blaming the Tories, setting the scene for the financial mess they will inevitably get into. Naturally Chris Bain wouldn’t allow any return fire from the Tories to go unpunished, showing the natural flair for hypocrisy for which the Labour group shine.
Constant reliance by the Labour group on Council officers to answer questions that they should be all over, especially since Carol Dean had stated that her group had completed financial training to prepare them for what turned out to be a shocking lack of understanding by any of the cabinet about how their areas of responsibility work 8 months in to their power trip. Councillor Ben Clarke even used the words ‘as far as I’m aware’ at one point in relation to a question directed at his portfolio.
An amazing ‘presumably gold plated’ footbridge replacement by the Snowdome that has somehow ballooned to £215,000 from 80k under the Tories. Carol Dean didn’t even know which of he colleagues was responsible for that let alone why the price had nearly tripled to replace a wooden bridge. Dean had to go to an officer for help on this one too, the best they could come up with was that quotes were still being obtained.
Members of the Labour group not voting in time with their party due to being preoccupied with their phones (we had to zoom in but we saw it) and sitting in silence like deer in headlights presumably not having a clue what was going on. Only Councillor Andy Wells appeared to dare ask a question that challenged his group (we do still think he’d made a good Tory and we aren’t sure why he has anything to do with them).
Councillor Tina Clements asking why new staff on the council’s (waste of taxpayers money) reception desk, would need a home working and travel allowance. Only to be met with confusion from Carol Dean who didn’t know why, the conclusion being it would be ‘looked into’.
Councillor Sam Smith asking where the extra money for Labours’ much lauded and believed ‘forgotten estates’ campaign was since they’d made such a fuss about it. Apparently there’s no extra money according to Carol Dean, because it’s all about ‘priorities’ and making sure everyone gets a fair share of the resources. Ben Clarke appeared to not remember what their campaign was at all, since he answered the question as if it were to do with council housing. Of course we all know that Labour Councillors spent a lot of time posing in front of uncut grass, overgrown hedges and rubbish their voters had strewn everywhere. So Carol Dean essentially admitted that they would be prioritising cleaning up after the dirtbags that flytip on their ‘forgotten estates’ to keep them happy. Smith to his credit didn’t let this one go, reminding them of what their campaign actually was. Naturally he was brushed off. Chris Bain then went as far as telling Smith he couldn’t ask any more questions on the subject.
The meeting being only 51 minutes long, you’d wonder whether it was long enough to scrutise the towns’ budget for the coming year. Unfortunately it was clear towards the end of the meeting that Chris Bain had decided he’d had enough and wasn’t keen on continuing much longer. His behaviour as chair was appalling and as we say, doesn’t bode well for when he takes over as Mayor.
The whole meeting stank of dire incompetence on behalf of the Labour group. If you look into the budget further than what was discussed, as we’ve previously reported, you’ll see they have savings to be identified which is no justification and is a classic pretence Labour use to essentially fudge a budget. Not to mention the conspicuous line ‘savings reversed’ in relation to Marmion House. Wow.
We dread to think of the mess Labour will continue to cause whilst in control. You can be sure we will still be here to highlight it, no matter what.
