The Lib Dem response to Cllr Walter Brett's letter to the Stockport Express!

From: Cllr David White
To: Cllr Walter Brett
Sent: Thursday, 5 August, 2010 12:06:10
Subject: Letter


Walter,



I note your letter which appears on your blog and I would again ask the question that if 20% VAT is “an attack on the poor” why was 17.5% left as the rate from 1997 to 2010? Apart from a small section of 15%

The issue with Reddish South Station well I was appalled at the decision in 1991 and attacked it at the time but I would still do it now.

The fake shock at some of the things happening now are just sickening from this New Labour Group in Stockport .

This is your deficit and there would have been 12.5% cuts and the deficit would have been 50% of now, how would that have been paid for?



Best Wishes



Dave



Councillor David White

Liberal Democrat, Davenport and Cale Green Ward

Executive Member for Transportation

Cllr Walter Brett's letter to the Stockport Express!

Dear Sir,

It hasn’t taken the local Lib Dems long to return to their old tricks, in this case refusing to take any responsibility for their own actions, while trying to divert attention elsewhere. Andrew Stunnell, newly installed as a minister in David Cameron’s government, hopes to blame the last Labour government for the devastating and unnecessary cuts he is now helping to make, rather than his new Tory master’s determination to carry on where Margaret Thatcher left off. Make no mistake – the current hatchet-wielding has nothing to do with cutting the deficit, which was under control, with a clear plan to pay it down, and everything to do with dismantling our public services for ideological reasons. The rise in VAT (which the Lib Dems were vehemently opposed to in May) is merely a “downside” as far as Mr Stunnell is concerned, rather than the callous attack on the poorest households it actually is.

Meanwhile, Cllr David White, who clearly has time on his hands since his mysterious departure from the Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority, treats us to a ramble round various topics. Of course we were disappointed that Reddish South station, closed under his new Tory friends in 1991, wasn’t reopened under the last Labour government, despite our campaigning (which will continue) but the fact is that it is now going to stay closed so long as the Con-Dem coalition keeps cutting budgets and services. As far as funding for rebuilding local schools goes, we are quite aware that Lib Dem-run Stockport Council botched and bungled its Building Schools for the Future bid, but as a result of the Con-Dem cuts, our children will remain in crumbling buildings for the foreseeable future. Finally, he too refuses to take any responsibility for the VAT hike, but hopes it might be cut at some unidentified point in the future. I too hope that the Lib Dems (and their new Tory bosses) realise they have got it wrong – I won’t be holding my breath though.

Councillor Walter Brett

Labour, Reddish South