'That Letter'

‘The letter’ that was featured earlier this week in The Times is still causing strong comment in the media. The BBC have made much emphasis on the letter being an attack on the cuts, however, Maureen Rigg argues that: “We were not calling for no cuts, but for time to implement them properly instead of the front loading which Eric Pickles seems to think is so easy to cope with.  The letter has been well and truly misrepresented...”

Sefton Council’s Leader and long time friend of Manor Ward, Tony Robertson (pictured), was one of the signatories of the letter which attacked Communities Secretary Eric Pickles. Here’s how the Southport Visitor carried the story today (Feb. 11):

SEFTON Council’s leader has launched a stinging attack on Communities Secretary Eric Pickles over the £68m cuts facing the borough.

Cllr Tony Robertson was among 88 local Lib Dem heads, including 17 town hall leaders, to sign an open letter warning of the pace of the Government's spending cuts.

They accused Mr. Pickles of "letting down" users of council services and refusing to work with councillors.

In the letter, which lays bare the depth of frustration felt by a highly influential section of the Lib Dems, the signatories accused Mr. Pickles of being "unwilling to lead the change that's so desperately needed".

Cllr Robertson said he fully accepted the need to reduce the country’s deficit and Sefton’s role in that.

But the Maghull councillor said Mr. Pickles’s decision to ‘front-load’ savings had forced councils to rush into making “gut-wrenching decisions”.

Cllr Robertson said: “The front-loading means that we’re making savings at an incredibly fast pace which doesn’t allow us to change the organisation to best harvest savings.

“The real concern is the way things have been gone about.

“The lack of diplomacy from Eric Pickles and the way he talks about local authorities just makes the whole process a lot worse. His contribution to this issue has just not helped.”

The letter, published in The Times, was signed by key figures including Cllr Richard Kemp, Lib Dem leader on the Local Government Association. ...

Cllr Robertson added: “Eric Pickles comes from a local authority background, so he should understand how it all works. But we’ve all found his approach to things a bit much.

“You would expect support from the local government secretary, but instead we feel like we’re being poked in the eye.

“All we want is a bit of consistency and we see Eric Pickles as being a blockage to that.

“The view among councils generally, and across all parties, is that his attitude is something we could do without.”

It is about time that Eric Pickles is questioned in this way, his approach to local authorities has been poor from the beginning, and I praise Tony for adding his name to the letter. Any local Conservative finding themselves in agreement with the approach of Eric Pickles clearly, in the opinion of Manor’s FOCUS team, doesn’t have the local community at heart.

The full letter can be found here.