Tory jitters coming through

Medway Labour will freeze Council tax for two years if we form an administration

It seems like a few Tories are getting hot and bothered by the latest announcement by Medway Labour of a two-year Council tax freeze.

Given the Council tax freeze policy is supported by the Tory-led government they should be happy that the opposition has promoted this policy, as not only sensible under the current financial conditions with families struggling, but one that is a necessity for any party to communicate a clear position on Council tax before forming an administration.

That is not to say there are not major concerns around future Council revenues in years to come, but the overwhelming view of the electorate last May, whether some on the left like it or not, was that the public expect some cuts and have taxation levels eased on family budgets. Interestingly this may not be the same in 2015, if Labour can start to set out a clear vision - but that is another point.

The distinction now is between a Labour Party that would not have cut this aggressively and would have promoted investment in job schemes and public services, or a government which has presided over a double-dip and have cut too far and too fast.

Labour are not deficit deniers and this charge is quickly loosing steam as economic growth stagnates. It is the pace of deficit reduction coupled with the fact that if you do not get growth the interest repayments on future debt will be just as high, but the social impact of policies will be worse. This is a simple argument that Labour needs to manage.

Local Tories are rattled. Rattled by the polls, rattled by the laziness of their Councillors and rattled by a resurgent and aggressive opposition which has a new bench of talent for the future. There really is a clear distinction, not only visibly but also activity wise, between the Tory bench and the new generation Labour talent that has been attracted.

You can see how Tories are rattled by the responses to Labour policy positions over recent days which have verged on the hyper-aggressive to the sneering.

Instead of agreeing with cuts to fat cat salary perks, we have just had a tit-for-tat on which leader gets the most; not accepting the fact that public dislike all fat cat pay perks and that we should all accept a cut.

The response to cuts in police has been met with a tirade of wonk nonsense about how an elected commissioner can make up for a 1500 reduction in staff and a £52m cut in Policing. We have even had a denial about the impact of Police cuts. Fewer police will lead to an increase in crime. It is not rocket science.

Instead of being open and honest about the cuts in the budget we have had a turgidly slow response from the Conservatives and a whole lot of hot air on how it will not impact front line services. The public are not idiots; and they know a cut of £23.5m will hit the front line somewhere.

The administration has been lamentably weak and incoherent about its vision for Medway in future. As an administration, they have the resource to spell out this type of message, and they are not.

Over the coming weeks Labour will be highlighting additional policy positions. It is responsible perhaps for the governing party to respond in kind.

The fact is there are very distinct policy differences between the two major parties which this blog has served to highlight over the years.

The public now have a more developed understanding of these differences because of the internet then 2007.

I believe that the public are fed up with the mismanagement by the current Conservative Council and are looking for a change in May.