The Tories have defended their election pledge for South Ribble which appeared on the leaflet - apparently seeking a 'debt ridden' council 😬
True blue Tories in South Ribble have denied being left red-faced after a national newspaper highlighted an election leaflet in which the party appeared to promise to take the district from being “debt free to debt ridden”.The seeming slip-up featured in campaign literature issued on behalf of several Conservative candidates seeking to gain or retain a seat on South Ribble Borough Council when residents go to the polls next month.
A panel on the front page of the “In Touch” pamphlet sets out six apparent pledges beneath the heading: “Delivering our plan for…” followed by the name of the ward in which the material is being distributed.Five of the bullet points clearly refer to plans that the Tories have if they take control of the council after the vote on 4th May, such as creating “a green and cleaner South Ribble”.
An inside page of the pamphlet – of which the LDRS has seen three bespoke versions – does provide further detail on each of the six points, including the Tory claims about the council’s finances. But Cllr Foster mocked what Labour have seized upon as being a glaring front-page gaffe.Cllr Foster said: “There are so many factually incorrect statements within the entire publication, it’s genuinely hard to know what to believe or not.
“It’s bungling at best,” said Cllr Foster, whose Labour group is looking to build upon its achievement of becoming the largest party the last time the borough voted in 2019. It has since run the authority with the support of the Liberal Democrats in a so-called ‘confidence and supply’ arrangement, ending 12 years of Tory rule in South Ribble.
The conclusion was based on “the level of forecast cash inflows and outflows” – from both the capital and revenue streams – and the fact that the authority was holding cash and cash investments totalling £53.9m at the end of September 2022.Cllr Tomlinson, who shared the information with all councillors, irrespective of their political colour, told the LDRS that the message confirmed that “our debt position is zero and is expected to be so for a number of years”.
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