We had put forward 10 amendment's to the budget, which would have led to an £8 million boost to the Ipswich economy and still keeping the Council Tax at the same level as the Tories/Lib Dems have set. All the amendment's were thrown out by what became the Carnall and Cenci show! Just like a music hall act but one with little laughter. Actually that is wrong John Carnall spent most of the time laughing- obviously he has not met many constituents in Bixley who have been hit by the current economic meltdown.
The Tory answer to the problems we face is to leave the money in the bank- till a rainy day, well its seems to be pouring at the moment. What Carnall means, is they want to save money so they can set a low Council Tax rate in election year!
A number of our amendment's would not have cost much money- an example was the £7,000 proposed to employ a member of Council staff to help with Ipswich to keep their Fairtrade status, this was thrown out and what was quite amazing was the attack on those who want Fairtrade, by certain Lib Dem members. I wonder how those who vote Lib Dem would have felt?
I was so annoyed by the Carnall/Cenci show that I even left before the end of the meeting - I thought that I would rather spend time with my family in my last week here before I depart for my final training before I deploy to Afghanistan. I even felt like giving up politics.
But fortunately this morning a visit to the Dundee House sheltered Housing scheme, has made me more even determined to not only return a Labour Council to Ipswich but even more importantly help Labour win a fourth term in government.
For those who feel the Tories have changed- and that Cameron is now moving to the centre- forget it- Carnall and Cenci showed that in Town Halls all over the county, the same Thatcher Tories are still running the show.
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