Leader sends to

Coventry over

Tory claims

In and among the political campaigning in the run up to the elections on May 5th one issue is still rumbling on.
It concerns the Conservative newsletter “In Touch” which used a section for local news to attack the record of the Boston Bypass Independents.
It accused the BBI of taking Boston Borough Council to the brink of bankruptcy and making large cuts.
Exactly a month ago, this provoked an angry letter from BBI and council leader Richard Austin to the regional director of the Electoral Commission’s Midlands office in Coventry accusing the Tories of “gross fabrications and misinformation”
He asked the commission “to direct” the Conservative group to make a public apology for publishing such misleading information and engaging in such underhand behaviour.”
As one who should know, he added: “It brings the electoral system into disrepute.”
In what some may consider hair splitting, Councillor Austin says that Boston was not on the brink of bankruptcy. He said that two years ago the Audit Commission classified the council’s performance as “poor” but that Boston has been in a strong financial position ever since.
We wonder whether it was about then the former deputy leader of the BBI and now Mayor – Councillor Peter Jordan – was quoted in the local “newspapers” as saying of the borough’s finances “"It really is Armageddon… we are facing some difficult decisions and need to take some drastic action." Councillor Jordan was also quoted as using the “B” word in June 2009 at a full meeting of the borough council.
Although the Conservative leaflet mentions council tax freeze in 2008 which “placed … the council in a very weak financial position,” Councillor Austin says in fact there was an increase – of 4.9%, “voted by the previous administration”
Having spread some blame, he goes on to claim that council tax rose by 2.9% in 2008/09; 0% in 2009/10; and by 1.1% in 2010/11 reflecting the increase in the drainage board precept.
This seems to us to be a case of having your cake and eating it.
When it suits the BBI to say that council tax has been frozen to help the borough’s poorer taxpayers, it is headlined as an act of generosity.
When it suits the BBI to dodge the bullet of freezing the tax and thus losing valuable income, it points to an increase that generates no additional cash for the borough itself.
In rebuttal of Councillor Austin’s complaint to the Electoral Commission, the Conservatives have sent a detailed response, and we have to say that it answers the issues in a very thorough manner.
Perhaps the absence of any news to the effect that the Commission has upheld Councillor Austin’s complaint is an answer in itself.
Certainly, we have yet to hear of any apology being issued.

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