Council leaders under fire

TOWN hall leaders are “stupid” if they cannot cope with savage cuts to their budgets, a cabinet minister claimed yesterday.

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles turned his fire on council bosses who have warned of painful cuts to services, insisting they would be guilty of “negligence” if that happened.

Giving evidence to a committee of MPs, Mr Pickles again insisted the cuts could be achieved by taking out a wasteful layer of middle management.

And he warned that council leaders would be the target of the public’s anger if they axe libraries, leisure centres and care services, rather than get rid of managers.

From next month, all councils will be expected, although not legally required, to publish all items of spending above £500 on their websites — which ministers are convinced will reveal scandalous waste to local voters.

On the scale of cuts, the Communities Secretary insisted: “You would have to be beyond the point of negligence — to the point of stupidity — as a local government leader or official, if you were not expecting cuts of this magnitude.”

Council leader Howard Sykes said Oldham was “in good shape” to handle the challenging budget settlement.