Financial Report - How to Spend the Extra Money (Oxfordshire Liberal Democrats)

Oxfordshire Liberal Democrats <info@oxfordshirelibdems.org.uk>

Financial Report - How to Spend the Extra Money

November 6, 2007 5:15 PM
By Cllr Alan Armitage in County Council

It is interesting that the cabinet member should feel moved to try to welcome and support the military personnel based in the county.

As somebody who attended the service in Abingdon a few weeks ago to welcome home the men and women of No 4 Logistics Group on their return from Afghanistan, I find it more than a little strange that Gen Sir Richard Dannatt feels it appropriate to suggest to Local Authorities rather than to central government to provide financial assistance to British troops.

Despite a number of lies published in The Daily Mail, I saw with my own eyes that the welcome extended to our troops in Abingdon was warm and full of pride. This event was organised by the army itself, and was not intended to be a public occasion. Nevertheless the mayor of Abingdon, the Deputy Chair of the Vale Council and their MP, Dr Evan Harris, were there, and their presence was much appreciated by the troops. The streets between Abingdon Guildhall and St Helen's Church were lined with enthusiastically cheering people.

I went in a private capacity. But when the Col realised that I was a county councillor, he insisted that I join the march, that I sat in a place of honour in the church, and that I met the officers and their wives at the informal reception afterwards.

What I saw that day in Abingdon was a community welcoming their own troops home and demonstrating their pride in them. That community was of course represented by their local councillors and MP, who happen to be Liberal Democrats.

Therefore, we would ask that in the second part of this proposal from the cabinet, the Leader, Cllr Shouler and the Chief Executive make a particular point of consulting the leader of the Liberal Democrats in this council in deciding on allocations of county council money to these projects.

After all, we don't want it to appear that there is any hint of party politics in this gesture to our troops.

To the substance of our proposed amendment, I would point out that many of the elderly in this county also served their country during the wars of the 20th century. After world war 2, they were promised by politicians that if they paid their taxes and their national insurance until they retired, they would be looked after by the state in their old age.

But in recent years, governments of both persuasions have seen fit to betray such promises. The help the elderly receive is often not free, and increasingly not even available.

The treatment of the elderly in this county and elsewhere in England has become a matter of shame, far exceeding any imagined slight against those who are currently serving in our armed forces.

We have an opportunity here to recognise in a small way that we care about and value our older citizens, who have served their country in whatever capacity.

That is what our amendment seeks to turn into reality.