Councillor David Perry’s boasts about his administration (“We have been open and honest”, Your Views, February 12) ignored the specific issue of a member of his cabinet saying (in public) that writing to thousands of residents about Labour’s cuts to street cleaning was “in progress” — only to state a month later that the information was, instead, being put in the darkest corners of Harrow Borough Council’s website.

I would also remind Cllr Perry that Labour had no intention of telling anyone about this cut originally — it was only at my suggestion that the commitment to write to residents was made.

As for his demand that the Conservative group should “work constructively” with his Labour administration; in an ideal world we would, but he does not practise what he preaches.

The first decision made by Cllr Perry’s administration was to renege on a pre-election promise that the opposition would sit on cabinet in a non-voting capacity — and would also chair the council’s main scrutiny committees. Labour quite literally changed the rules to keep the opposition out of decision-making and now have the gall to demand we help them fix their budget.

Given the proposals in said service-killing budget — closing four libraries, charging £75 for bin collections, shutting children’s centres, slashing funding for voluntary organisations and raising council tax by two per cent — it’s no surprise to see Labour using the Conservatives locally and nationally as scapegoats and straw men.

But Labour need to realise they are the administration and with that comes the responsibility to set the budget —whether they particularly like the budget they’ve come up with or not.

Councillor Susan Hall

Con/Hatch End ward Leader of the Conservative Group Harrow Borough Council