When you read the Lib Dem campaigning material it seems that they accept that the general public understand that the Conservatives are the most competent at managing the economy. This is clearly true in Cambridgeshire.

One of the key Lib Dem messages is to convince everyone that Lib Dems are even more financially competent. I really don’t know how they will achieve that as everything they touch financially they get wrong.

We have a great case study in the Lib Dem run Cambridge City Council. In recent years they have had a series of financial disasters.

Right now they seem to have overestimated the amount of council tax they are going to collect. Well over £1m it seems. This has a big impact on the County Council as they collect the money on our behalf. Cambridge City is the only district council to have made this estimating error in this way. How did this happen?

They are also in a right pickle over another missing £2.3m. It seems that a mistake was made somewhere in finance. Really. Sounds career limiting to me. This is not about a contract that
has gone wrong, or some external influence. This is a great big corking mistake that will affect the services that are delivered. Read the full story here.

City council financial mismanagement

And let’s not forget the mess up with the ticketing for the Folk Festival. Hundreds of thousands of pounds written off through lack of financial control. How do these mistakes keep happening?
Folk Festival write off

Of course there is also the money that was lost in the Icelandic bank crisis. The Lib Dem leader was delighted to have lost £635,000 in this unfortunate event. Interesting view on what is seen as a Lib Dem success.

£635,000 lost in Icelandic banks

It seems that the Lib Dem group hugs, the extended democratic processes, the endless committee meetings all lack one thing. Getting anything done or controlled. Why? Because there is no individual accountability it seems. Hiding behind group decisions is not leadership, it is wasteful.