The Real Opposition on Oxfordshire County Council

2.41.26pm GMT Wed 14th Mar 2007

The letter from the leader of the Labour group on the county council which you published on 2 March, claimed that it is Labour which is providing effective opposition to the Tories.

In fact, many of us on the council have been really touched to see the developing cosy relationship between the Conservative cabinet and the diminishing band of Labour councillors. Didcot's Cllr Harris (Labour) let the cat out of the bag during the budget debate when he said that he didn't really mind the Tories forcing their policies on the rest of us, what he objects to is the fact that the Lib Dems have overtaken Labour and become the official opposition.

The "winner takes all" electoral system suits Labour and the Tories just fine. It means that the Conservatives hold every single decision-making position on the county council, though they won just 35% of the vote across Oxfordshire. Labour know that there's no danger of any of their own policies being implemented in Oxfordshire, so they can strut and rant on the political stage to their heart's content, without fear of having to take the consequences.

The Labour group leader boasts that her group was proposing a larger increase in Council Tax than the Lib Dems.

Lib Dems believe the Council Tax to be a grossly unfair tax which penalises the lower paid, pensioners and those on fixed incomes. Keeping any increases to the minimum is important to Lib Dems - but obviously not to Labour. On both the county and the city councils during the recent budget debates, Labour have produced the same arguments for us to tax people "just a few pence a week more". Fortunately, the lower increases supported by the Lib Dems, have been agreed by both Councils.

County Cllr Alan Armitage

Opposition Finance Spokesman