Tories plan for 10pc cut in Town Hall agency staff was a disgrace

Published: 11:16 AM March 9, 2009

Updated: 8:13 AM October 14, 2020

Dear Ed, WE HAD the spectacle of the Tory group at Tower Hamlets last Wednesday evening proposing a 10 per cent cut in Town Hall agency staff wages at a full council meeting. The Tories’ proposal was an utter disgrace

Dear Ed,

WE HAD the spectacle of the Tory group at Tower Hamlets last Wednesday evening (March 4) proposing a 10 per cent cut in Town Hall agency staff wages at a full council meeting.

The Tories’ proposal to cut wages was an utter disgrace. It is their banker friends who have created the economic disaster which is engulfing us and who still walk away with massive pensions. Yet the Tories apparently want ordinary, hard-working people to pay the price.

Fortunately, the other three parties on the council, Respect, Lib Dems and New Labour, united to throw out the Tory proposals.

However, when a perfectly reasonable proposal to freeze council tax charges with no cuts in services or wages was proposed, The Tories united with the New Labour majority to vote these down too, in what can only be described as a fit of pique.

I have no doubt that the people of Tower Hamlets will be voting for change in next year’s local elections. But nothing could better prove that the Tories will be even worse than the current lot to run this council than the votes at last Wednesday’s council meeting.