MORE IS LESS

Lib Dem Somerset County Council is claiming to be above average when it is at least £300,000 below. Can't they count?

Beleaguered Somerset County Council have claimed that they are better than the average county council at investing money. A new report said that the investment performance continues to be above the average for all councils and above that for its 'peer group'. But the chart that goes with the claim shows that it is just not true. Somerset is below the average for all councils and for its peer group. If it were as good as the average it would see Somerset earning an extra £300,000 on its investments.

Somerset's borrowing has trebled in the last six years. And it has lost £25 million in Icelandic banks. Now they are misleading people into thinking that their investment performance is better than it really is.

Conservative Finance Spokesman, David Huxtable said, ''Somerset's performance has been good in the past, but this year it has nose-dived. It is quite wrong to say that they are better than average and they should not mislead people like this. I shall be asking the County Hall bosses for a full explanation of this claim.''

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For more information: contact Councillor Ken Maddock, Leader of Somerset County Council's Conservative Group, kmaddock@somerset.gov.uk 01823 356784 / 01458 850906 or David Huxtable, Conservative Group Spokesman on Finance, djhuxtable@somerset.gov.uk 01278 723120.