The Lib Dem Road to Hell!

It was illuminating to read the Shepton Journal today and to see the considered thoughts of Cllrs Kennedy and Horsfall in print.

True to form in a letter full of factual inaccuracies, spin and deception, the duo try to re-write history to try to put the discredited Lib Dems in a more favourable light.

They state that Somerset County Council does not have debt, it merely has a mortgage. I looked up the dictionary definition of a mortgage and it states:-

Mortgage  “A temporary, conditional pledge of property to a creditor as security for performance of an obligation or repayment of a debt.”

So are they saying the lender of the money for the widening of the A37 can re-possess the property in they fail to pay? What a load of rubbish! The money borrowed created a debt, it is not a mortgage in any sense of the word, and in any event, a debt is a debt no matter what you want to dress it up as.

The letter provides a list of projects that the Lib Dems spent money on whilst they were in power, and had to borrow the funds to provide. I’m sure all of the projects listed were all worthy in their own way, but the question has to be asked “can we afford it”?

I would like to live in a million pound house in the country with hot and cold running servants, a salmon stream and a 18 hole golf course at the bottom of the garden, the only problem is, I can’t damn well afford it. This simple rule was ignored by the Lib Dems, so as soon as someone came along with a great idea the answer was “yes, we must do that”, “we’ll just put a bit more on the mortgage to pay for it”.

Millions of households in this country did exactly the same thing, times are good, property prices will rise for ever, borrowing is cheap, we live in some sort of la la land, a utopia where nothing can go wrong!!  Then the bottom fell out of the economy and all those who had indulged in profligate spending were left to rue those decisions.

Then we turn to our dynamic duo’s comments regarding Mendip’s finances, and how the Conservatives inherited a debt free council on a solid financial footing. What a crock of s...t another load of nonsense!!

1.       The last Lib Dem administration in Mendip ran up debts of £16 million and were forced into a position where they had to conduct a fire sale of the council house stock at a knock down price, to raise the money to clear that debt. Of the £30 million raised, £16 million went straight away in debt repayment.

2.       They used the interest on the surplus accrued from this fire sale to prop up the revenue budget. That might sound gobbledygook so in simple terms they were spending the interest from their savings for day to day living, whilst at the same time spending their savings as well. As the savings pot got smaller, the interest became less putting pressure on spending or forcing up council tax.

3.       In a combined effort, the Lib Dems in County Hall and at Mendip increased your council tax by 60% in the 4 years prior to the 2003 election, is it any wonder they lost!

4.       The last Mendip budget produced by the Lib Dems in 2003 had included in it some £440,000 of “savings yet to be identified”. Basically they had to fiddle the figures by nearly half a million pounds to produce a budget where income and expenditure balanced. This was described as “borderline illegal” by the auditors.

5.       An inspection by the Audit Commission in 2002 branded the council as “weak” with “little or no chance of improvement” and was particularly harsh on what they called “weak and ineffective leadership”.

If we add to this the Norah Fry debacle where the Lib Dems turned down an offer of £1.3 million for the old hospital then accepted £300k some months later, the 18 year full repairing lease they signed on the Amulet building without a audit being carried out prior to signing leaving a £1.4 million liability, Glastonbury sports and leisure centre off loaded at a peppercorn rent with terrible lease agreement or the clause added by hand at the bottom of the Council House sale agreement making Mendip liable for all sewer repairs for 25 years, a liability estimated at £20 million.

So Mendip left in a financially sound state in 2003? You have got to be joking. Mendip was a financial basket case in 2003 and it took 5 years of prudent action to turn it around.

The last Lib Dem administration in Somerset left debts of £357 million, with annual repayments of £36 million including £13 million per year direct to the banks in interest. That is £36 million that can’t be spent on roads, children’s centres, libraries or anything else. Without these interest payments the County Council could continue to fund all Libraries and much of the other services that they may now be forced to cut. These are facts and they are undeniable, the debt may have been accrued with the best of intentions, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions.