I’m not saying the Mayor was being economical with the truth back then but ask the question - why she doesn’t say the council is almost bankrupt now even though she’s presided over a massive jump in Debt of £191m? You don’t have to be a consultant on £750 per day to answer that one.

A RESPONSE TO THE TORY BUDGET IN NORTH TYNESIDE

Under Linda Arkley, North Tyneside Council has become less honest. It has become less efficient and it has become unfair.

The Mayor will trumpet 0% council tax bribes from her government but she will stay silent on her record of massive increases in the cost of allotments, the cost of burial and cremation, the cost of swimming, the cost of exercise in our leisure centres, the increase cost of childcare, the unfair use of personal allowance budgets for vulnerable people to sneak through inflation busting rises to personal care. She’ll not mention her wholesale dismantling of entire services and anti-democratic decision to hive off £250m worth of council contracts to private sector providers who have only one aim – profit maximisation.

She’ll forget to tell the public about her over reliance on outside legal advice to the tune of £61,000 spent on providing her with ways to circumvent the will of this council.

She’ll forget to tell the residents of North Tyneside that under her 4 year reign, she has presided over the largest single increase in the use of consultants as decision makers rather than council officers.  

She’ll stay silent on her record of borrowing over £1m for every week of her 191 weeks in charge. Some people may remember that she was elected to ‘tackle the council debt’ and they will remember how she described the council as almost ‘bankrupt’ in 2009.

I’m not saying the Mayor was being economical with the truth back then but ask the question - why she doesn’t say the council is almost bankrupt now even though she’s presided over a massive jump in Debt of £191m? You don’t have to be a consultant on £750 per day to answer that one.  

This council has been hollowed out while the rest of the borough has to deal with a triple dip recession, rising household costs, rising costs of council services, from the incompetence of the bin tax to the doubling of fees and charges.  

When Linda Arkley’s party, the Tories claim the nation has ‘maxed out its credit card’, then what has the Tories done to North Tyneside.

4 Years of wasted opportunities, all spin and no substance.

4 Years of reckless decisions from the hiring of her own personal party political spin doctor to her own personal barrister giving her advice on tap, at a cost of £61,000 to the poor tax payer.

This budget is a desperate budget – a desperate sleight of hand to try and convince the public of the Borough that 4 years haven’t been wasted.

The truth is the Mayor has failed the test she set herself – she said she would tackle the council debt and under her it’s risen by a whopping £191m.1m for every week in power and a million reasons every week why North Tyneside can’t afford another 5 years of the Mayor and her discredited party.