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'Stagnant' Labour are 'doing nothing', says Cutts

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THE new leader of the opposition at Notts County Council has launched her first attack on the ruling Labour party, claiming "nothing is getting done".

Kay Cutts, whose Conservative party lost 14 seats and control of the council at the polls in May, has claimed there has been a lack of action on promised policies.

Mrs Cutts pointed to Labour's pledges to introduce the living wage and 20mph speed limits outside schools as areas where she believes Labour hadn't yet delivered.

But Labour leader Alan Rhodes said Mrs Cutts "should know better" than to expect changes in just six weeks.

Mrs Cutts, who is no stranger to opposition having been in the position from 2000 to 2009, said: "I don't like opposition at all. I can see things not being done and want to see some action. Unless Labour start putting forward some ideas of their own, they are child-minding our policies."

Mrs Cutts pointed to the work programme – where the ruling group sets out details of what will be discussed over the next six months – as evidence of stagnation.

"There's nothing there," she said.

"When we took control of the council in 2009 we set about doing things from the get-go. We saved £28 million by not funding the tram extension and set about running the council like a business, just like we said in our manifesto.

"The Labour manifesto had all sorts of pledges in them and people voted for them on that basis and I don't understand why these things aren't being done."

One pledge that Mrs Cutts says the council will find hard to implement is that of the living wage.

The voluntary living wage – the basic cost of living – has been calculated at £7.45 per hour, while the current minimum wage is £6.19 per hour.

But Mrs Cutts said that in the face of a required £133 million savings in coming years such a promise didn't make sense.

She said: "The council needs to make savings, not be spending more money. The council has £133 million in savings to find and is facing further cuts in the settlement – paying the lowest-paid more is not the right priority to have at the moment.

"We want policies on the table because a stagnant council is no good for the people in this county."

But Mr Rhodes hit back and said that work on the pledges is taking place.

He said: "We are having discussions behind the scenes with council officers and with things like the living wage and 20mph speed limits, the wheels are in motion.

"I know Mrs Cutts might not like being in opposition, but she should know better than to expect us to change the world.

"We have already changed the way we handle recruitment and we are looking at ways we can deal with the £133 million gap in our funding. To say that nothing is being done is completely wrong."

'Stagnant' Labour are 'doing nothing', says Cutts


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