Councillors clash over 'love letter' to Sir Keir

Government's record under fire

- Sentinel Reporter

STOKE-ON-TRENT councillors have clashed over the achievements of the Labour Government - after its first year in office.

Labour members on Stoke-on-Trent City Council proposed a motion welcoming the Government's spending review, saying it marked a 'significant and welcome shift towards investment' in places like the Potteries, with extra funding for social housing, the NHS and the police.

But opposition Conservative councillors branded the motion 'tone deaf, saying that Government decisions such as the cuts to winter fuel payments and the National Insurance hike had left people in Stoke-on-Trent worse off. The Tories proposed a lengthy amendment listing these points, which they claimed would correct the 'half truths' of the Labour motion.

But following a debate the original motion was voted through by a majority of councillors on the Labour-run authority.

As well as welcoming the spending review, the Labour motion expressed 'disappointment' that the Government's new industrial strategy did not include specific support for the ceramics industry. It called on the council to ask the Government for targeted support for ceramics, and to ensure the authority buys locally made pottery.