Last year the Conservatives changed the way the county council debated its budget and the setting of its council tax in order to give their council leader more goes at speaking than anyone else.

Basically it turns the process of budget debate into a game of rock, scissors, paper. In the previous autumn the Conservatives as the ruling party have overseen the production of a draft officer budget which has been supported by all the Conservatives on the council’s service committees. All political groups, including the Conservatives, then submit amendments to this officer budget about a week before the full council meeting. This is the first time the groups see each other’s budgets; there’s no chance to change them, and no chance to consider them in committee as happens in normal committee-run councils, before they come to the budget meeting.

The leader of the council proposes the officer budget. Then he proposes the real Conservative budget, as an amendment to the officer budget he proposed immediately beforehand. Not only does he propose these two budgets he gets to have the last word on them and they are seconded by his deputy. Then the other groups propose their amendments as amendments to the Conservative amendment. So the Conservative leader gets the chance to speak to them as well. The other groups are defeated, the real Conservative budget is voted through, and then there’s a victory lap of triumphalist speeches by the Conservative chairmen of all the committees as well as the council’s Conservative leader.

This pantomime ensures the Conservatives get much more speaking opportunity particularly their leader to praise themselves in front of the press and on YouTube. This year it was particularly distasteful as the Conservatives made personal remarks against particular opposition councillors. It is sad to report that there’s not much difference these days between yobs and the county Conservatives.