Spin, spin, spin

The Taxpayers Alliance on 4th December published figures which they had obtained using the freedom of information act.

Adding together expenditure on communications directors, press officers, free newspapers, websites and advertising for recruits, shows that the average council now has a publicity budget of about £985,000. This compares with £430,000 in 1997, an increase of 130 percent. Even allowing for inflation the increase must be approaching 100%, or doubling. The average council taxpayer now pays something like £20 a year for this in his rates.

In total councils are now paying collectively about £450 million.

It seems that councils are like their big brother in Westminster, where the number of press officers has trebled to over 3,500 since 1997.

We all know that we are deceived by spin on a regular basis, and we know that local councils have become adept at concealment. What is worse is that while they spend ever more on spin, they cut back on services with the claim that they are short of money!