Local councils should ask local people and communities about changes that they are thinking about making…
 
Councils should work with local communities and local people more to make services better…
 
 
Mrs Finch-Saunders said:
 
“Buses, radio, tweets that are specifically promoted; this is an extensive and expensive campaign and taxpayers deserve a value for money guarantee.
 
“Communities will find it difficult to understand how, on one hand, they may sit on a bus with a ‘councils are going to change’ banner, then on the other, Labour’s councils change minister recently banned three potential mergers - out of hand - with no good reason.
 
“He may have used our money to pay for a Labour government tweet to pop up in our timelines – but the reality is that this Labour minister has no idea what he’s doing on local government.
 
 
“The consultation itself raises even more questions than it poses, not least because of its startlingly obvious inquiries.
 
“Asking local people to decide whether or not councils and councillors should speak to communities for example, will be a no-brainer for most people. Though clearly not for Labour ministers.
 
“Either this is an admittance that they have absolutely no idea what’s going on in the councils they manage, or much of this consultation borders on the useless.
 
“Labour has been in charge of our councils for well over 15 years. During that time chief exec pay and council tax have both rocketed. This current process of reform should be efficient, value for money and entirely transparent.”
 
ENDS