As councillors debate the state of Somerset Council's finance, Alan and Andrew discuss how the changes in local government in Somerset have got us to where we are.
Interesting podcast, I don't think it was made clear the 'black hole' for Somerset was ENTIRELY down to the conservative administration. They carried on between 2010 - 2016 6 years of missed opportunity.
Crucially, the whole Unitary fiasco was driven by the conservatives and central government, the people of Somerset voted by 69% AGAINST a unitary authority, yet central government imposed the unitary on the people of Somerset. One of our MP's has stated that the people of Somerset VOTED for the Unitary - when they clearly did not!
In the run up to the unitary being created many councillors could clearly see that the "business case" for the unitary authority was deeply flawed and the savings proposed were illusionary.
Interesting podcast, I don't think it was made clear the 'black hole' for Somerset was ENTIRELY down to the conservative administration. They carried on between 2010 - 2016 6 years of missed opportunity.
Crucially, the whole Unitary fiasco was driven by the conservatives and central government, the people of Somerset voted by 69% AGAINST a unitary authority, yet central government imposed the unitary on the people of Somerset. One of our MP's has stated that the people of Somerset VOTED for the Unitary - when they clearly did not!
In the run up to the unitary being created many councillors could clearly see that the "business case" for the unitary authority was deeply flawed and the savings proposed were illusionary.
Someone needs to check their arithmetic as the people of Somerset could simply not have voted 69% AGAINST a unitary authority- it’s impossible
I sincerely apologise for not being totally accurate, the results were:
Mendip
Stronger Somerset: 68.9%
One Somerset: 31.1%
South Somerset
Stronger Somerset: 67%
One Somerset: 33%
Sedgemoor
Stronger Somerset: 64.1%
One Somerset: 35.9%
Somerset West & Taunton
Stronger Somerset: 61.7%
One Somerset: 38.3%
The overall totals were:
Stronger Somerset: 65.3%
One Somerset: 34.7%