Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council have criticised the Conservative-administration for budget proposals containing £54m of further cuts to services and a 6% council tax rise.

The budget recommendations will be approved by the Council’s Conservative Cabinet on Tuesday 30 January 2018, and then put before the County Council on Tuesday 6 February 2018.

The Conservative proposals include drastic cuts to services such as libraries, road maintenance, services for children and families as well as cuts to support for people with learning disabilities. They come on top of the unpopular cuts which have already been made to services including highways, community recycling centres and support to vulnerable people.

Overall it reflects a failure by the Conservative government to provide adequate funding to the County Council, especially to provide for the costs for the much-needed social services to vulnerable residents, and a failure of the Conservative administration at County Hall to get to grips with the Surrey’s financial problems.

We believe that the proposed 6% rise in the Council Tax – the maximum increase possible without triggering a referendum – is still unaffordable for many Surrey residents, particularly for those on fixed incomes. However, the Conservative administration has been forced into proposing this rise due to the financial crisis at County Hall and the shortfall in government funding for essential services such as adult social care.

Overall, this budget is a bad deal for Surrey residents, who are being asked to pay more for less. The County Council’s own survey of residents revealed that only 37% of people believed that the County Council provided value for money and the Conservatives should take note of this level of dis-satisfaction with the services they provide.

Surrey residents should not have to pick up the bill or lose essential services because of the failures of this Conservative-administration.