Labour councillor criticises Lib Dem youth fund (From Haringey Independent)

Labour councillor criticises Lib Dem youth fund

5:33pm Thursday 23rd February 2012 in News By Hermione Wright

The Liberal Democrats' proposed £1 million investment in Haringey’s young people has met stark criticism from a Labour councillor.

The youth fund is just one of a series of budget changes championed by the Lib Dems which will be discussed at the budget meeting on Tuesday.

The criticisms come from Councillor Joe Goldberg (Lab, Seven Sisters), who suggests that the Liberal Democrats' proposal – which aims to create or re-open youth services lost to young people as a result of council funding cuts, show that the party is “devoid of ideas".

The Haringey Council fund, called One Borough One Future, would inject a one-off £1.2m payment to “support innovation and change, stimulate new ideas and help the council deliver on its key priority of addressing inequality” in the borough.

The Labour fund has been criticised by Lib Dem councillors, with Councillor Paul Strang (Lib Dem, Crouch End) saying today it is nothing but a “Labour slush fund”.

Cllr Goldberg, cabinet member for finance and carbon reduction, said: "It is beyond belief for the Lib Dems to slam our scheme one week and announce a carbon copy the next. This clearly shows how devoid the Lib Dems are of ideas.

We have already announced £4.6m worth of investment that will be available to support and improve the lives of Haringey's youth - £3.5m of which will go directly to create jobs, clearly the biggest issue our young people have said they need help with.”

The budget for the next financial year will be set at Haringey Civic Centre, High Road, at 6pm on Tuesday.