2009 will be a difficult year for Stockport. Already the town is facing job losses, businesses closing down, restrictions on lending to residents and businesses alike. We will see price increases as Pound Sterling slumps against the Euro. Gordon Brown doggedly continues to insist “the British Economy is well placed to weather the recession”. Tell that to Stockport’s hard pressed residents as jobs vanish, the value of pensions plummet and the interest relied on from life savings melts away.

Hands up all those who think that the way forward is to simply borrow even more money and pile up unimaginable debt levels onto our children’s futures just to bail out a bankrupt and dithering Government. If we have learned anything over the years it is that a Labour Government always gets the country’s finances into a mess before they are ejected from office.

Locally, we need our Council to get a real plan together to support those who will be hit hardest by the financial crisis. We have yet to hear anything from the Liberal Democrats other than hand wringing.

As we approach another Council budget will the Liberal Democrats once again raise charges on everything from adult learning, to meals on wheels, music lessons and playgroups? Will we see the same swinging over inflation Council Tax rise we always get from the Liberal Democrats? I suspect all we will hear from them is the usual self-congratulation telling us what a wonderful job they are doing while Stockport residents suffer the pain of recession and job cuts.

So far, there are no real plans coming out from the Council to help address the growing jobs problem in Stockport. There are plenty of things the Council could do, but so far all we have had is a long silence.

Conservatives are saying that we need a real change and renewed emphasis on delivering Council Services where we can give the most support to local people in these difficult times. Already Conservative Councillors have successfully pushed the Council into providing support to the Credit Union network in Stockport as a way of helping people with money management and accessing safe credit.

We have to tackle the many areas of Council expenditure that are completely unnecessary and frankly, a waste of money. We all have to look at the money in our pocket and think more carefully about how we spend it in a recession. The Council should be no different. Now really is the time for a whole new approach and fresh vision, which only Conservatives can deliver.

Cllr Syd Lloyd
Conservative
Bredbury Green & Romiley

This article, by Cllr Syd Lloyd, was first published by the Stockport Express 21/01/2009.