I RESPECTFULLY point out the bombardment of letters of late from Cllr Wilcock and Cllr Alan Dean shows their hypocrisy knows no bounds. Not a word of remorse about the way the staff have had to take the brunt of their mismanagement, no, just pompous post

I RESPECTFULLY point out the bombardment of letters of late from Cllr Wilcock and Cllr Alan Dean shows their hypocrisy knows no bounds.

Not a word of remorse about the way the staff have had to take the brunt of their mismanagement, no, just pompous posturing about how they know better than the Tories how to run a council!

Of course they want us to move forward from the financial mess; the Tories would love to move forward and start dealing with the manifesto we promised. However, there is the little matter of a nearly £2million shortfall and £11million of capital reserves that have been used up that we have spent the last five months trying to sort out to enable us to move forward.

I respectfully point out that Cllr Wilcock was chairman during the financial fiasco and Alan Dean was the chairman of the finance committee, both of whom were told by the Conservatives and Independents that their figures didn't add up. They were warned on many occasions, most of which were recorded in minutes. They were responsible for the totally irresponsible decision to reduce the council tax rate at the 11th hour.

How come they know all the answers now? Isn't it a pity they didn't put all these safeguards in when they were in power? It should also be pointed out that it was our decision to appoint an independent report by Bill Roots.

It was also of the utmost importance that we took drastic action to cull all positions where possible and start putting the correct staff in with the correct experience where absolutely necessary.

We are not going to work on knee-jerk reactions just because the LibDems say so; we have absolutely no confidence in their grasp of financial management, as was reported by the Audit commission when auditing the accounts during their reign, and proved by their disastrous handling of the financial affairs of the council when they were in office.

For Alan Dean to complain that we keep blaming the LibDems for the financial mess is risible. Who else would we blame if they were in office - the tooth fairy?

Tina KnightCouncillor for the Wards of Debden and Wimbish Uttlesford District Council.