At this yesterday's Cabinet at Derbyshire County Council, Conservative Group Opposition Leader Barry Lewis, walked away from Cabinet after not being allowed to answer questions put to him by the Leader and Deputy Leader of Labour.  Last year, the Cabinet decided that the opposition leaders would not be able to ask unsolicited questions, nor have any right of reply, unlike members of the public who do have this right.

Cllr Lewis said,

'I was stopped from answering their questions.  Clearly Labour were playing up to the pubic gallery on the issue of cuts, cuts which their own national party have said they will continue with should they be elected.  

We can now see why they have decided to cancel Full Council on the 30th of this month; they fear the backlash from the public that now realises that all they promised in opposition they cannot deliver now or for the foreseeable future.  

They cannot deliver because they dithered in the first year of their administration and will now, it seems, fail to achieve the savings they need to make over the next five years. A point which rang out loud and clear from todays Cabinet papers and the Labour Leader's nervous rhetoric.'

Cabinet papers identify a potential £4.6m shortfall this year and £15m over the next five years, whilst the general reserve position could run perilously close to causing external auditor concern.

An offer of a full Cabinet post was made to the Leader of the opposition last year, which came with strings attached and a higher allowance, which the Independent Remuneration Committee recommended should be without strings, as it is in other similar authorities.

Cllr Lewis commented,

'It is simply unacceptable to ask the Leader of the Opposition to take a Cabinet role, which would effectively hamstring that person, who would become part of the decision making process, from taking a clear and objective view of the situation and representing the views of the opposition group.'

A further cause of concern for the Conservative Group was the continual outpouring of negativity from Labour members, some of whom are standing in next years General Election.

Cllr Lewis added,

'During our administration we made savings of over £70m, all resisted by Labour; yet we managed to improve services, and service user satisfaction whilst increasing the General Reserve to over £100m to cope with the future cuts.  We did this by innovating, doing things in new ways and in a way which was as positively as we could achieve by having quality consultation and, where possible, taking the public with us on the journey.  The staff of DCC were positively engaged and played an enormous role in the success of delivering change with us.  

A degree of positivity is what it takes to deliver quality services in the face of cuts, and no one likes to implement cuts but that is what we sometimes have to do.  

Yesterday, yet again, we heard Labour whine about the things they are having to do whilst running down the general reserve, indiscriminately salami slicing in a way that would make an delicatessen worker blush, pouring on a dose of negativity and serving up a side order of venom.  If they continue this way they will fulfil their own prophecy of doom and, we believe, fail the people of Derbyshire.'