Making a difference to the people of Medway

Statement concerning the Emergency Budget

Press release posted on Tuesday, 22 June 2010

Speaking after today’s Emergency Budget (Tuesday 22nd June 2010), Deputy Leader of Medway Council’s Conservative Group and Portfolio Holder for Finance Cllr Alan Jarrett said:

"Whilst it is clear that this will be a difficult period for Medway and for the country, the measures outlined in the coalition government’s budget are necessary to address the damage caused by 13 years of Labour government mismanagement and to put our economy back on a sure footing.

"This age of austerity will be challenging for all of us and we will have to look long and hard at what the council does to find savings, but we remain committed to providing value for money and maintaining key services for residents in Medway.

"The challenge for us in managing Medway’s finances is to deal with immediate short term pressures but remain mindful of how we are going to create budgets and deliver services over the next few years.

"Such austere measures could have been avoided if Brown and his Labour cronies had not maxed out the country’s credit card and had taken action to address our debt problems before they spiralled out of control."

ENDS