IN the so-called ‘era of austerity’ it is difficult to justify town-twinning trips.

The Government is drawing up £6billion worth of cuts. Almost every public service is going to be hit.

David Cameron has said the cuts will be so wide-ranging they will affect every single person’s way of life.

Yet the day after Blackburn with Darwen Council was told £4million was being cut from its budget in the first round of cuts, a delegation of six were sent to France.

Four councillors and two senior officers spent two nights in Peronne. It is hard to see what people in Blackburn with Darwen will get from six people spending a weekend in the French town.

French officials picked up the hotel and food bills, but the total cost to the council was still £1,582.

In the grand scheme of things that may seem a drop in the ocean.

But we are in period now where a single penny cannot be wasted.

Council bosses owe this to the people who will lose their jobs and the taxpayers whose services are to be cut.