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Council budget agreed in Northumberland
March 2, 2010 5:12 PM
The task of passing the budget in Northumberland has been completed following a decision by the Conservatives to back down and abstain when the vote on spending plans and council tax was taken.
The minority Liberal Democrat administration's budget was rejected earlier this month when Conservatives and Labour joined forces to block the spending plans despite having no alternative of their own.
A second meeting was held on Wednesday 24th February to take the decision on the budget again. By law the budget has to be agreed by the end of the month. This time the Conservatives abstained rather than join forces with Labour again to block the budget.
Council Leader Jeff Reid said after the meeting, "Apart from minor tinkering at the edges, this was the same budget we brought to the council earlier in February.
"An unholy alliance of Labour and Conservative councillors threw out the budget then, even though they brought no budget of their own to the meeting.
"This delay of two weeks caused uncertainty and was completely unnecessary. Thousands of pounds we wanted spent on vital services for local residents have had to be spent on this additional meeting instead.
"That's the price residents have had to pay for Labour and Conservative irresponsibility and political posturing.
"We are pleased that the budget has now been agreed. As an authority we can now move forward through the difficult times ahead."
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