Library clash Council ruling group slams Labour's 'scaremongering'

CITY councillors clashed over a 4,600-name petition by opposition party Labour to "save Bristol's libraries

- Adam POSTANS

The interior of Bristol Central Library on College Green

(Jon Kent)

The Green-led administration, backed by Lib Dems and Conservatives, accused the opposition group of "scaremongering" and "propaganda" and insisted the service was not under threat after announcing previously that the budget would not be cut next year.

Labour said that despite this, no one in charge had met its challenge of promising that no branches would be shut as part of a major ongoing review into the future of the city's libraries.

Presenting the petition at a full council meeting of Bristol City Council last week, Labour group leader Cllr Tom Renhard, pictured inset, said the ruling groups had initially proposed to cut funding by more than half - £2.4million from the £4.7million pot - for the service but had backtracked after it mounted a campaign.

He said: "I don't begrudge the difficult decisions local leaders had to take. As far back as 2017, when Labour were staring down the barrel of a major financial deficit resulting from previous financial mismanagement, there were no easy answers.