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Just 11 days left – who is going to lead the fight to protect local services?

by Ian Shires on 23 May, 2015

councilIt’s Saturday 23rd May. Still 11 days to the AGM at Walsall Council. Still no answer to who will lead the fight to protect local services from a renewed icey blast of austerity measures coming out of Westminster from a Tory Government freed from the constraints imposed by the Liberal Democrats.

Let’s recap. Where do the Parties stand post election, on Walsall Council?

  • Labour                      27
  • Tory                          25
  • UKIP                          3
  • Lib Dem                     2
  • Independent              2
  • DLP                            1

As you can see there are only two Groups which are in a position to form an administration – Labour and the Tories – Labour remain the largest group and they also form the current administration. The question for the rest of us is which of these two will best defend local services faced with even harsher austerity measures coming from a newly elected Tory Government at Westminster. A Government hell bent on making more cuts in a bid to put the economy back in the black by the end of the decade.

The Liberal Democrats have made our position clear, given that neither of the two larger groups have a clear majority and that the Tories are in the driving seat at Westminster we will not be voting to remove the current Labour Administration. We will vote to maintain the status quo keeping Labour in the driving seat at a time when we need to see every effort to protect vital services.

Labour plus the Liberal Democrats still leaves us at least one short of certainty. It rests with UKIP, the Independents and the current Mayor Pete Smith, what they do will decide who leads the fight to protect local services.

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