TORIES ADMIT THAT EASTLEIGH HAS "LEGITIMATE GRIEVANCE" OVER CUTS

3.02.19pm UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 28th Nov 2006

A leading Tory county councillor has admitted that Eastleigh has a "legitimate grievance" over the cuts in adult care services imposed by the Tory-run county council.

In an email, executive member Cllr Colin Davidovitz says that there is no doubt that Eastleigh Carers Services - the centres that support carers who look after some of the most vulnerable adults - were "valued by all those who used it".

Commenting on the email exchange Eastleigh MP Chris Huhne said: "These leaked emails show just how damaging these cuts to carers services are really going to be for the most vulnerable people in our community and how incredibly high-handed the Conservative county council has been in making them.

"There has been zero consultation with those most affected, and no attempt to think through the consequences for hard-pressed carers some of whom may now give up the effort to look after vulnerable members of their family. That will then impose far higher costs on the county if it has to take people into residential care."

In the emails, Ken Dufton who runs the Eastleigh Carers' Centre says that the Tory group is seeing life through "rose-tinted spectacles" if it believes that £20 million of cuts can be imposed without affecting real people.