H&F, K&C and Westminster Mergers - Update

Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster Councils have published their latest document which hopes to detail how they will merge many of our services. My fellow Opposition Leaders and I published this joint letter when the plans were first unveiled last October. I will provide a more detailed report on this latest development later.

I'm in favour of merging services with other public bodies where's there's a strong business case likely to deliver genuine back office savings. My concerns are that these proposals are a long way off being a strong business case and I can't see what the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham has in common with the City of Westminster that would make them an ideal partner in this enterprise. In fact, it is evident that these proposals are being rushed and given this less than competent approach, it is extremely likely that public money will be wasted and service will fail. I believe that the reason's these particular three Tory run councils want to get together is so they can cut more front line services, introduce more stealth taxes, attack front line jobs, gerrymander the Boroughs and undermine local democratic accountability.