From Cllr Ann Kerridge:

In the spring, North Cornwall District Council chairman Graham Facks-Martin astounded members by observing not just once but on two occasions that his Independent and Tory friends at County Hall were incapable of running the council.

Since June, Alec Robertson's administration has been trying to prove him wrong.

On October 21, Alec went on a media charm offensive to bury a positive health check on the Liberal Democrat financial legacy. In mock Churchillian tones he warned of the grave crisis facing the council, a £15 million black hole in this year's spending and the need to pull together.

Within two weeks Finance Director, Peter Lewis, published a detailed 38 page report of the financial position pertaining on September 30.

In this Mr Lewis reported that he had slashed the financial overspend in the year ending March 2010, by almost half to £8 million (that's less than 2 per cent) and the £15 million unitary council savings were even closer to being fully achieved.

He also recommended other measures that would cut the projected deficit even further. It beggars belief that the latest information was not available at least in part when Alec went public.

I don't know whether Alec deliberately chose to peddle out of date information because it suited the Tories in the run up to next year's general election?

Maybe his rhetoric wasn't backed up by any real knowledge of the council's finances? Even trying to be as charitable as I can, Alec would have been both more accurate and less alarmist had he waited just a few days for the latest facts instead of spinning a gaping £15 million deficit.

I doubt council staff think they are pulling together with Alec, who has already begun axing staff benefits whilst declining to support a motion to freeze total spending on councillors' allowances.

It's beginning to look as though Graham was being unusually prescient.

Bodmin.