DWP money

THE Tory cabinet has tried to hint that the problem of the large and possibly catastrophic debt owed by Waveney District Council to the Department of Works and Pensions was inherited from the previous Labour administration.

THE Tory cabinet has tried to hint that the problem of the large and possibly catastrophic debt owed by Waveney District Council to the Department of Works and Pensions was inherited from the previous Labour administration.

Yes, the previous Labour administration had some problems with housing benefits, but the claw-back currently being sought by the DWP arises from the council accounting years of 2004/05, 2005/06, 2006/07 and 2007/08, a period under the current Tory administration.

The Tory administration had been told about the problems over housing benefits by the district auditor in every audit letter from 2004/05 to 2007/08. Yet one of the first things that Alan McFarlane, the council's director of resources, did when he was employed early last year was to try to quantify the possible debt due to the DWP.

Why was this not done by the Tory administration?

We as a group believe that the present Tory cabinet should resign and take it to the electorate to see if they want to re-elect them.

MALCOLM CHERRY

Labour group leader

Waveney District Council

Hardy Close

Oulton Broad