Tuesday, March 25, 2008

How could a Minister be so stupid?

Margaret Hodge, a Culture Minister, has found herself in the middle of a most bizarre row over free entry into Norwich museums. The MP was drafted into the City in order to support Labour's re-election bid and they used the chance to announce a headline-grabbing pledge to make entry into museums free. However, there is always a catch ...

... The pledge is only if Norwich gets unitary. And even then, only if Labour gets control (increasingly unlikely - the Council will be Tory is the boundaries are wide enough). So, Norwich Labour are now writing the budget and service plans for a council that doesn't yet exist. And poor Cllr Ferris says that the unitary council won't need the funding from the museums. How on earth does she know this?

And despite these rather obvious flaws in the plans - obvious enough for most people - the Minister insisted on welcoming the ideas, despite knowing they can't fulfill the pledge.

Typical Labour, but it says a lot about one Labour Councillor who'll do anything to be re-elected and one Labour Minister who'll say anything she's told.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

They can keep on writing blank cheques, safe in the knowledge that none of the costs of their promises will ever be banked!

Anonymous said...

What can I say... a bl**dy embarrassment.