Council lodges complaint with Andrew Marr Show

Cheshire East Council has lodged a complaint with the BBC Andrew Marr Show over a remark implying that the council had 'cut services to the bone.'

The Council has requested a retraction and correction.

The Council's complaint comes in the same week that BBC Radio Stoke revealed that staff in the Council's media relations team had composed tweets on behalf of Council Leader Michael Jones which were then posted on his personal twitter account.

Cheshire East's complaint to the BBC follows an interview with the Prime Minister David Cameron, in which Mr. Marr said 'The leader in Tatton – Conservative council leader – saying things are being cut to the bone, they cannot carry on given the pressure on old age services...."

A Council spokesman said the presenter was clearly confused as there is no such local authority as Tatton, only the Parliamentary constituency situated in Cheshire East.

"Anyone watching the programme will automatically assume that he was referring to Cheshire East Council," said the spokesman.

He added: "It is totally untrue for Andrew Marr to suggest this council is cutting services to the bone, especially adult social care services.

"We continue to invest in adult social care, dementia care and community care services in order to meet the requirements of the new Care Act and to ensure that our older people get all the support they require.

"We are passionate about innovation, regeneration and economic development and our business model has helped us to maintain frontline services, freeze council tax for four consecutive years and avoid any compulsory redundancies.

"Once again the Council has balanced its budget whilst focusing on frontline services and there is every prospect that there will be no council tax increase next year, for the fifth year running.

"Our performance as an authority has resulted in significant jobs growth and low unemployment and we are complimented by other local authorities for our business model."

Council Leader Councillor Michael Jones said "We have to challenge this because Andrew Marr will have left many viewers with the impression that as an authority we are struggling to make ends meet when there could be nothing further from the truth.

"We expect him to clarify this in a future programme very soon."

"We are a council that innovates. We innovate we do not cut."

Earlier in the week, the BBC reported that a FOI request by BBC Radio Stoke revealed that Council staff had drafted tweets on behalf of Councillor Jones, some of which were of a political nature - which is a breach of the Local Authority Code of Practice on Publicity which prohibits council staff from issuing party political statements.

As a result of these allegations, Tim Roca, the Labour Prospective Parliamentary candidate for Macclesfield, has written to Eric Jack Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.

Mr Roca wrote "Public resources should be for the public good, and I am therefore calling on you to urgently review whether the actions of Cllr Jones have breached the Code or the Local Government Act. It is crucial that the public have confidence that those in public life are not abusing the office they hold."

A spokesperson for Cheshire East Council said "Cheshire East Council's CEO has been made aware that on a number of occasions last year, members of the media relations team gave assistance to the Leader of the Council with his new personal Twitter account.

"Although the context of this was to protect the council, this activity is not permitted and staff have been advised accordingly. The Chief Executive has taken action to bring this practice to an end.

"However, it should be stated that where the Leader and council members wish to access the Council's Twitter accounts, then the media team is able to give support and assistance, drawing on their knowledge and experience in this relatively new media platform with which members of the media team are more familiar and attuned.

"Appropriate training and development has been put in place to embed the Council's protocols in all future communications."

Photo by Nick, licensed under Creative Commons.

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