There have been several letters from Conservative and Lib Dem councillors and supporters castigating the Labour Party for passing an increase in the council budget of 15.5 per cent.

Much of the information given leaves a lot to be desired as far as the truth is concerned.

It is true Swindon does not get enough from the Government to pay for the statutory services of Education and Social Services, this is the result of a Conservative Government funding regime of the 1980/90s designed to direct Swindon taxpayers money to places like Westminster, Wandsworth and shire counties all controlled by the Conservative Party.

Yes, the Labour Government could have dismantled that regime much earlier but its priority was to get rid of the massive national debt left by the Tories. That it has done and from next year there will be a new funding regime in place that is fair to all local authorities.

Now for the local situation, Swindon Council has had above inflation contributions from central government every year since 1997, as has every other local authority in the same situation as Swindon.

This has still not been enough. The Labour administration recognised this and last year put forward a budget to meet that. The Lib Dems and the Conservatives created an unholy alliance and threw it out in favour of an ill thought out Lib Dem budget, the Tories did not put one forward.

Using the excuse of the Ofsted report they then passed a motion of no confidence in the Labour administration.

They expected the Labour Group held the same values as themselves, that we would have ignored the motion. Legally we could have, but we have more honour than either of the other two parties and resigned.

That created a situation where the Tories had to take control then, they found the truth as to the disaster their budget had created and that to retrieve the situation there had to be a massive cut in services or, a larger increase than would have been needed in the council tax.

Increases in tax is an anathema to the Tories and when their proposals for a 9 per cent budget hit the streets they were quickly given a kick in the pants by their own supporters as well as others. They knew that to stop the closure of elderly persons homes, libraries, and cultural services they were going to have to increase the council tax by 15-16 per cent.

But what did they do? They squirmed making excuses and blaming everybody else for a few weeks then proposed a budget of 12.5 per cent. They are now acting like Pontias Pilot "it's not our fault it's those nasty Labour people".

A smiling Coun Bawden said to me after the meeting "thank you for the extra money".

The Labour Party faces up to its responsibilities it does not shy away from making the difficult decisions that benefit the whole community.

(Coun) Barrie Thompson

Cirencester Court

Drove Road, Swindon