April showers another blow for local democracy

Conservatives on Hammersmith & Fulham council are celebrating their election victory a year ago by making April their anti-democracy month.

As reported below, this week the Tory cabinet walked out of a meeting in the face of opposition to their cuts in funding to voluntary organisations. That's despite refusing several organisations the chance to make representations at the meeting. Instead the Tories fled to vote behind closed doors for savage cuts to some of Hammersmith & Fulham's longest standing community bodies.

Earlier in April parents and children from Peterborough primary school which is threatened with closure were not allowed to question councillors about the plans at the education scrutiny committee. What decision could be more important to local families?

With the Tories seemingly making new cuts to public services in Hammersmith & Fulham every week, it's crucial that decisions to close services and make budget cuts are properly scrutinised. Let's not forget that the Tories won the election boasting of a 'secret budget' which they refused to reveal for reasons that are now obvious.

The true face of Cameron's Conservative party is clear to see in Hammersmith & Fulham - cutting services and ignoring local residents. We still wait to hear what the Conservative candidate for Hammersmith, Shaun Bailey, thinks about his new friends.