Surprisingly the leader of the Conservative Opposition on Walsall Council has described the £12.4 million budget cuts for next year as grim. I say surprisingly because these proposals are not new. They were agreed in February of this year as part of the four year Financial Plan showing how £86 million would be saved by 2020 following full consultation and debate by all 60 members of the council.

Further his comments surprise me because the cuts come on the back of an unprecedented attack on Local Government grant funding as a direct result of the continuing austerity measures by his government, measures we were told would end by 2015.

Following the Autumn Budget announced last week by the Chancellor Phillip Hammond the latest predictions say it will be 2030 at least before the country’s finances get on an even keel.