The Return Of Original Blog Villiain Bridgend Labour Council: Using Political Spin To Defend The Indefensible?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

It has been a while since I've chatted about blog villain Bridgend Labour Council directly. As opposed to the effects of what it caused in Bridgend Town. But I saw something in the local paper yesterday which has brought it back to my attention and is worth commenting upon.

In it the council leader stated that they were going to make cuts of thirty million pounds in the next four years. He said that whilst these cuts would be "unpopular" it was essential so that the council would be financially stable in a tough economic environment and that they were going to protect services to the venerable.

Now let's for a moment ignore the fact that it probably means that Bridgend Town will remain the urban tragedy that it has become. Or that if they don't get the lottery funding then Maesteg Town Hall might have to close down providing a knock on downward effect there too given nothing to alleviate it (both circumstances the fault I'd argue of the council - previous posts refers).

No instead we'll focus on what the Welsh Labour leader of the council said. That despite making "unpopular" cuts services to the venerable in the community would be maintained.

The thing is that statement if you think about it carefully makes no sense (and that's ignoring the words "unpopular cuts" - who has ever heard of a popular cut) because all cuts will affect the venerable in the community the most.

For example. Let's say for the sake of argument that the council intends to close a library in the borough. They would probably say that whilst it's an unpopular decision it would not affect on their services to the venerable. However...

If a library is closed then a source of entertainment to the elderly in our community goes. Children from low income families would not have instant access to books. The unemployed would not be able to go online in search of a job using the free internet service the local library would provide.

So you see any cut will affect them proportionately harder.

I don't know whether the Bridgend Council leader indulged in Welsh Labour spin or genuinely believed what he said.

To be honest I'd be more worried if it was the latter.

Until the next time.