I’m absolutely astounded by this story, which was originally brought to my attention by David Ottewell, who blogged about it today.

For those that can’t be bothered to follow those links, the crux of the story is that the 10 local authorities of Greater Manchester all pay Marketing Manchester to, well, market Manchester. I don’t want to get into the value (or otherwise) of councils like Salford paying out taxpayers cash to market another city, but a deal was struck some years ago to split the cost, with 35% to be paid by Manchester and the remaining 65% to be split across the rest of the Greater Manchester councils.

It has since emerged that for the last 6 years, Manchester City Council has been paying 65% and the other Greater Manchester councils have only been paying their share of 35%.

The deputy leader of Manchester City Council has confirmed that from today onwards, the mistake has been rectified – but what about the £420,000 that Manchester has overpaid? Well, Manchester Labour councillor and Deputy Leader Jim Battle is quoted as saying “There was a misunderstanding and it has now been corrected, end of story. It would be bureaucratic nonsense to chase a few thousands pounds.”

I wish £420,000 was only a “few thousands pounds” !!!

Manchester’s loss is Salford’s gain – if Manchester City Council had decided to recoup their overpayment (as would be their right), then that 0% council tax rise that Salford Labour Leader John Merry had proposed for our own city could have been in doubt.

In fact, Salford may still have to repay our underpayment – as opposition councillors in Manchester have reported this shocking accounting error by the Manchester Labour council to the District Auditor.

It just goes to show how little regard Labour have for taxpayers money – they cannot be trusted with our hard earned cash.

A Liberal Democrat council would have immediately recouped a £420,000 overpayment (although I doubt any Lib Dem council would allow such a situation to arise). To claim £420,000 is just “a few thousands pounds” demonstrates a lack of sanity and a complete loss of respect for hardworking taxpayers.

Labour cannot be trusted with your money. Not at a local level and certainly not at a national level.