SWINDON Council has a wonderful sense of timing.

The £125,000 spent on new computers for its councillors may have come from last year's budget, but at a time when it is campaigning for extra funds from central Government, the investment sends out all the wrong messages to people facing a Council Tax hike of around 10 per cent this year.

The money will be used to provide laptops for 43 councillors. That represents the equivalent of £2,900 for each. Tory councillor Brian Ford has questioned whether the council is getting value for money as he has just equipped his office for less than half the cost.

Surely this expensive deal should have been renegotiated once the cost had become clear. Surely someone in the Civic Offices would have foreseen the political embarrassment such a large investment would have caused.

We have no argument with the principle of helping councillors communicate through new methods like the internet, but one must question the cost.

It is all very well the council pleading poverty over issues like schools and education, but it must also display its willingness to cut its cloth accordingly.

And if that means delaying the delivery of the councillors' new toys, then so be it.