The Conservative's Christmas Present to Wiltshire: 600 jobs at risk!

Published on Friday 2nd December 2011 by Phil MacDonald

Wiltshire Liberal Democrats have reacted with shock and horror to the Conservative's surprise announcement that 600 Wiltshire Council staff could lose their jobs.

Group Leader Jon Hubbard said "With no warning, 600 Council staff have been told their jobs are at risk just days before Christmas. This is another huge round of redundancies, and I'm worried the crisis-ridden Conservatives are just beginning the cuts that will come in the spring budget.

"How much longer can the Conservative keep saying that front-line services are not being affected? If these staff were not essential, then why were they employed in the first place? Either the council has been wasting vast amounts of taxpayer money, or this Conservative Administration is not telling us the truth on the scale of the cuts.

"Why does the Council need these sudden cuts now? The Conservatives keep telling us that everything is fine, but having just disposed of the Chief Executive, what's going on with the Council budget behind the scenes?

"The Conservatives have refused to tell Wiltshire's public how much was spent by the Council for the senior management redundancy earlier this year, but questions have to be asked about whether the redundancy budget will now have to be extended even further.

"This is a terrible Conservative Christmas present to the people of Wiltshire."