Lib Dems condemn Tory economic package as too little, too late

They say that imitation is the lowest form of flattery and that is exactly how Leicestershire Liberal Democrats have labelled the Conservatives recent announcement of 'Economic Growth Priorities'.

Simon Galton Leader of the Liberal Democrats said: "I suppose we should be flattered after claiming our proposals are unworkable and unaffordable in July they adopt them a few months later. However, the small amounts involved severely limits the potential success of the scheme.

Back in March we were told the Council's Earmarked Reserves would decline to around £50m, now we are told that they will decline from £110m to £96m. To me this suggests that there is still around £40m that could be used whilst staying within the officers own projections.

The Tories have failed to develop anything more than a fop, a small scale imitation of our own plans. There is little, if any, support for Skills and a minimal amount of resources for local businesses to access as credit. If you compare this with our own plan for Growth you will see that we are proposing more money and a greater investment in Leicestershire businesses and skills.

Naturally we welcome anything that gets Leicestershire's economy moving forward, and the Mortgage scheme and other programmes are a good start but the Council needs a much more ambitious approach and leadership on this."