AT last it's official. The government's own statistics have finally confirmed what many who have worked for Blackpool Borough Council have known for a long time -- the present Labour administration simply is not up to the job.

Immediately after the local elections in May 2001 and on the recommendation of the council's hierarchy this Labour council began busily closing down old people's homes and making long-serving, loyal employees redundant.

The people of Blackpool and a number of action groups have told them repeatedly that the problem lay not with the employees, or the structure of the old people's homes, but with the senior management.

In actions that one simply cannot associate with traditional Labour values their response was to give the senior management huge pay increases while at the same time laying staff off and inflicting huge council tax increases on the people of Blackpool.

The government statistics released this week show that Blackpool is one of the very worst councils in the country for providing social services. In fact, the Social Services Department has been ranked 136th out of the 150 ranked councils and it is listed for urgent attention. Perhaps now, we can all understand the reason for the huge hike in council tax and the justification for the senior management pay rises.

To add insult to injury we now see the Mayor, Councillor Sue Wright inviting Blackpool residents to attend local area forums to express their views. She tells us that we will be able to tell the council what they are doing wrong and that we will be listened to.

As she is the councillor who proposed the closure of the homes and who many would say paid little heed to anything put to her at that time I hold out little hope for any good coming from these forums. I am sadly afraid that we are simply witnessing another classic example of Labour "Spin" at its worst.

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