The Conservative leader of Essex County Council, has today (9 December) admitted that some of its substantial reserve funds are likely to be given back to the community at the council's budget meeting in February. The revelation was made at a cabinet meeting today where a council tax rebate for only a small number of residents in Essex was approved.

Speaking about the proposal, Cllr Tom Smith-Hughes, Liberal Democrats group leader said: "This is the just about the most unscrupulous case of political gamesmanship it is possible to imagine. Just when members of our community are trying to provide their families with the Christmas celebrations they would want whilst worrying about whether they will have a job in the new year, the not-so-compassionate Conservatives will wait until they can make a pre-election splash at their budget in February before we see what financial help they will offer. People need to know now what the council can do to help them and what was offered by the council today was a totally inadequate response.

"A golden opportunity was missed for the council to announce financial assistance, using its substantial reserve funds, to around three-quarters of council taxpayers across the county, as proposed from the Liberal Democrat group. Instead, we have a gesture to a limited number of people that may only be payable when applied for.

"The Conservatives have been taking unnecessarily high amounts of council tax from residents that have been used to swell the council's coffers instead of being spent on essential services. The needs of Essex residents for this money now is much more than that of the council. Residents have seen their council tax rise by over 100% over the past 10 years and the opportunity should have been taken to announce a scheme to benefit the majority of council tax payers. The scheme announced today will help only around 5% of the households across the county."