Coalition Budget

2.38.32pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 18th May 2010

Following the establishment of a coalition government, the focus has now shifted to the Budget on 22 June and what it will mean for every man, woman and child in this country.

The Chancellor has already made it clear that the emphasis will be on cutting costs rather than raising taxes but the omens are not good and some tax increases seem inevitable. In the circumstances it seems only reasonable to expect that the public sector should also play its full part in reducing the structural deficit and the country's debt burden in the coming years.

Local authority costs have escalated in recent years, mostly to meet government requirements and there is a need to check or even reverse this unwelcome trend. Payroll costs account for the bulk of local authority expenditure and in the case of Bracknell Forest Council it is believed staffing levels, including teaching staff, have increased by nearly 50% in the past ten years (somewhat mysteriously, the Council has stopped publishing employment figures since 2004)!

It is not clear to what extent Bracknell Forest Council has joined with other councils to create a range of new posts to cover government legislation on equality, diversity, climate change, global warming and health and safety but clearly many do not regard these as front-line appointments.

In the ensuing months the council will need to show much more openness about how it is going to manage its increasingly limited resources. If it doesn't and front-line services become the first to be affected, the electors will know who to blame.

Ray Earwicker

Former Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate for Bracknell