‘Axeman’ Laws seeks ‘£58K spin doctor’
28th May 2010
The ‘axeman’ architect of this week’s £6 billion worth of cuts,
David Laws, is planning a bit of public expenditure of his own – he
wants to employ a ‘spin doctor’ on a salary of
£58,000-a-year.
Laws, the Liberal Democrat chief secretary to the treasury, is
accused of ‘double standards and rank hypocrisy’ by Unite, the
largest union in the country, in seeking to employ his own press
officer at a reported salary of £58,000.
Gail Cartmail, Unite assistant general secretary for the public
sector, said: ”David Laws, as George Osborne’s deputy, is the
architect of the £6 billion worth of public expenditure cuts – the
first of many such cutbacks that will we have, no doubt, - who will
eventually take the axe to the jobs of frontline nurses, teachers,
police officers and firefighters.
”Nearly £60,000 is a lot of money to pay someone to peddle a
glossy spin on what the public already knows is coming down the
track. The stench of double standards and rank hypocrisy is already
beginning to waft from the body of the so-called ‘new
politics.’
”The public will question whether this nearly £60,000 post is
the best use of taxpayers’ money in these difficult economic
times.”
Unite has already condemned the £6 billion cuts as ”a
fundamental economic wrong turn by sucking money out of a still
fragile economy.”. Unite expects further bad news with the Budget
on 22 June and in this autumn’s comprehensive spending
review.
ENDS
Notes to news editors:
For further information, please ring: Gail Cartmail 07768 931
305 or Shaun Noble, communications officer 020 7420 8951 or 07768
693 940
