Make bankers pay

IN Janet Mockridge’s reply to my letter in last week’s Herald, she devotes a great deal of her letter discussing her remunerative package for performing what was once a civic duty, but now attracts a considerable emolument, probably greater than the average salary of a council employee.

Her proposal to let the county council take more responsibility is only marginally worse than the current proposal, to merge Worthing and Adur councils, which will still have the effect of moving the decision-making westwards, only not quite so far as Chichester; either proposal will result in a further erosion of local democracy, which is the main concern that I have, along with many others.

Of course, there will be all sorts of talk about putting in adequate guarantees that that won’t happen, but, of course, even up to May this year ( local election time ), the Tories in Adur and Worthing were saying that a political merger was out of the question, and castigating anyone who said otherwise.

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As to the question of the cuts, Mrs Mockridge says we are going to have a lot less money allocated to the community as a result of government spending restrictions.

The point I made in my letter was that it was the bankers’ irresponsibility that triggered the recession, so why aren’t the bankers being made to do their community duty by this government and apportion a percentage of their profits to repaying the massive debts that were incurred bailing them out?

And, by the way, what about legislating to reduce the huge bonuses that are still being paid to the fat cats at the top of these organisations?

Why should our community, along with many others around the country, be forced to make sacrifices in terms of losing our services.

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Local councils like Adur should put the interests of their residents above narrow political party loyalties and tell that to central government loud and clear.

Mrs Mockridge says we can scrimp and save until there is nothing left to save, but let’s be clear about this.

The present government is refusing to identify where the axe is going to fall, and for how long it will continue to fall, but wherever cuts are going to be made, the pain is going to be intense and the effects profound and long-lasting whichever of the 12 areas the council identifies as being ripe for the chop.

The people of Adur, as well as the people of Worthing, have to start demanding that there be no cuts, not assisting the local authorities in where best to direct the knife.

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And they should reject the merger as being less to do with budget saving ideas and more to do with the covert political agenda of ruling groups in Worthing and Adur.

S. J. Guy, Southview Road, Southwick