Working hard around Southcote

I was pleased to take Ed Balls around Southcote to meet with local people to hear about their concerns, such as the economy, health and education. Ed listened to many local tenants and residents voice concerns but also to comment that Labour is the best party to improve services nationally and to protect good services locally without massive cuts, whilst maintaining a low council tax.

Naz Sarkar, Reading West Parliamentary candidate replacing Martin Salter and I made Ed aware that similar to the national situation, Labour in Reading is the only political party that will be presenting a comprehensive budget for running Reading, whilst the Tories provide empty promises of a zero council tax increase without explaining how they are going to achieve it and without identifying what front line services will be massively cut back. I outlined to the minister that Tory councillors are calling for increased spending in many services at council meetings whilst their "glossy publications" boast about cutting back the same services. Contradictory certainly, but are the Tories insincere about their plans or just plain incompetent? Not trusted to run Britain or Reading