Lib Dems oppose council services privatisation

10.43.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 17th Apr 2009

The Liberal Democrats have condemned Essex County Council's "Transformation" project, which aims to privatise the delivery of most County Council services. They have stated that the council should be looking at ways of protecting and enhancing good quality, value-for-money services to the public.

Said Lib Dem leader Councillor Tom Smith-Hughes, "We are in favour of switching money from needless bureaucracy into front-line services. However, we do not support all-out privatisation."

"Many times outsourcing has proved to be a catastrophic failure. Essex County Council is currently ending its partnership with BT and moving all its IT service back into the council, so quite why Essex Conservatives haven't learned from their mistake is a mystery."