Why I know Mike Freer is telling porkies about Future Shape

Mike Freer took over Barnet Council, under the pretext of being a hard line Thatcherite.

Hard line Thatcherites believe in Tax cuts. That is there reason d'etre. They believe Tax cuts win elections. Mike Freer's been in the job for three years. How many tax cuts have we had? None

Mike Freer has said Future Shape is vital to control budgets. Has he promised tax cuts when it's implemented? Nope. What does this tell us? It tells us that

a) Mike Freer isn't a Thatcherite
or
b) Mike Freer doesn't believe Future Shape will really save money
or
c) Both of the above.

If Freer really had the courage of his convictions, he'd have come out and said "Every household in Barnet will be a minimum of £xxxxx better off when we do this". That is called a vote winner. It's what Tories are meant to do.

It's bad enough that they are wasting millions on consultants devising the scheme , the fact that they don't even have the courage of their convictions to say they'll give us a tax cut is scandalous.

I know what Mike's reposte will be. He'll say "we can't commit to a tax cut because we don't know how much the government grants will be". Well Mike, we're not stupid, make a realistic estimate. That's what you've done for your forward budget projections. Say "If the government gives us the expected amount of X, we'll cut your tax by this much".

Of course Mike won't because he hasn't got a clue if Future Shape will actually work, or whether it will save a single penny. It's a huge punt. Just like the huge amounts borrowed to invest in Iceland. With Mike Freer's track record, how do you think it will work out?

Of course Future Shape isn't being done for the voters of Barnet, rich or poor, Tory, Lib-Dem or Labour. It's being done so that Mike Freer catches David Cameron's eye and gets a plum job if he becomes an MP.

You may wonder what the relevance the picture at the top of this post has? Well it reminded me of the way that the other Tories in Freer's Barnet Cabinet have stuck up for the interests of the people who voted them in and paid their allowances. It sort of reminded me of Andrew Harper at the last cabinet meeting.