The leader was ready to resign (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

The leader was ready to resign

SWINDON COUNCIL FEATURE: COUNCIL leader Mike Bawden was ready to resign just before the weekend.

The Conservative leader of Swindon Council has revealed exclusively to the Evening Advertiser that he feared the final budget meeting would be his "Waterloo".

He said: "There were whispers that the Labour group was brewing a budget with a tax rise of under five per cent, probably to be pitched at 4.9.

"That could have appealed to quite a few of my group and they might have been tempted to take it on board.

"But there was no way that I could have presided over the sort of cuts that would have been necessary to implement a mere 4.9 per cent increase.

"So I would have fallen on my own sword. I would have immediately resigned as leader and gone to the backbenches.

"In my view, Labour missed a political trick. They could have had my scalp.

"I suspect in the final analysis they decided that a budget embracing so many savings would be sending the wrong signals to their bedrock followers."

A Labour-Liberal Democrat pact brought about the defeat of the Conservative administration's budget.

But Coun Bawden defiantly made it clear that the imposition of the opposition budget on his administration would make "zero difference".

He said: "We shall be continuing exactly the same way as before the budget.

"In fact, if anything, we shall be going even faster towards our goals.

"Our whole agenda is one of modernisation and streamlining the procurement procedures in order to achieve good housekeeping and savings.

"We lost the vote. It was no use my throwing the toys out of the pram and crying.

"Labour and the Liberal Democrats have accepted most of our strategic reviews and targets, so it's not going to make much difference."

Mayor Derek Benfield blamed Coun Bawden for failing to force through his budget.

Liberal Democrat Michael Dickinson (Central) was taken ill during the meeting and had to leave. Coun Bawden graciously volunteered to have one of his own members, Coun Doreen Dart (Blunsdon), paired with Coun Dickinson, meaning that neither voted.

This resulted in draw, with the Labour Mayor giving his casting vote in favour of his own group.

"If I'd been in Mike's place, I wouldn't have paired," said Coun Benfield (Covingham and Nythe).

"I'd have pushed through my budget and that would have been the end of it."

Although the Mayor's role is traditionally non-political, Coun Benfield defended his involvement in defeating the Tory administration.

"I've been a political person since I was 12, when I joined the Labour Party," he said. "Everyone in that chamber knew my feelings and the way I'd vote. I'd warned Mike Bawden days in advance. He should condemn no-one else but himself."