This is an article I have prepared for the Stockport Express, outlining the dreadful way Stockport Liberal Democrats are treating our community.  

It has been a bad month for us here in Stockport and the hits just keep on coming. Last month we had our police budget slashed, eye watering cuts were announced last week to our local government services and Stockport Station refurbishment has been put on ice permanently. Yet another disappointment is the recent news that the Building Schools for the Future programme (BSF), which funds the rebuilding and refurbishment of all secondary schools, has been drastically cut back.

Although Stockport wasn’t yet in the BSF funding programme, it effectively puts an end to any hope of new school building projects in Stockport in the next wave of developments.  

It is a real shame for the pupils, parents and teachers at Reddish Vale Technology College and St Anne’s RC High School in Heaton Chapel. Both are great schools with talented pupils. As anyone connected with the Schools knows, they badly need a refurbishment from top to bottom.

If Liberal Democrat Stockport Council had of got themselves organised we could have had entered the BSF programme and got this funding in place years ago, but as it stands it is these schools that will pay the price.  

And what word of protest do we have from Stockport Liberals Democrats as our community and services are under attack? As yet not a single word of protest, a deafening wall of silence. They have even done their best to make the situation worse and slashed £665,000 from Reddish Vale Technology College for diplomas. This is pretty much an attack on young people and their future, not cutting waste.

The Liberal Democrat Stockport council does not do anything like enough for its most deprived communities, including the Reddish wards. The announced changes by the government to the benefits and tax credits will already have a disproportionate effect on less affluent residents due to the existing high levels of income deprivation, and likely lead to even more people calling on local council services in their time of need.

Maybe Stockport Liberal Democrats are taking a leaf out the book for Margaret Thatcher. As Prime Minister she largely ignored the North of England because there were no votes there for her. It seems the Liberal Democrats are operating a similar policy to us here in Stockport, implementing policies that unfairly impact on those who need help most.  

I honestly hope this isn’t the way this new government will conduct itself, cutting everything in sight without a thought of how it will affect the community. I hope that Liberal Democrat voters in Stockport remember this is the last thing they voted for in the election.