In a blatant act of revenge, the Conservative administration group at Essex County Council has voted to cut off the only opposition group's sole full time support staff in a bid to gag the opposition. The taxpayer will continue to fund 13 full-time staff to support the leading Conservative councillors. They will also continue to accept Special Responsibility Allowances totaling around £600,000 on top of their normal councillor allowances, all at the taxpayers' expense. The move came when the administration decided to make political staff to the Liberal Democrat and Conservative group redundant.

Speaking about the decision, Lib Dem group leader Cllr Tom Smith-Hughes said: "Only recently, Lord Hanningfield was complaining to the national press that a "vindictive campaign" had been launched against him by a Liberal Democrat MP. This was in response to the news that Scotland Yard had decided to investigate Lord Hanningfield's House of Lords expenses. It can hardly be a coincidence that a short time later the Lib Dem group has been thrown off the council's Waste Advisory Board and is now having its only full time staff member made redundant.

"Given the already outrageous number of full time employees dedicated to working for the leading Conservative councillors, it is clear that their main preoccupation is with occupying power and then cutting down the opportunities for anyone to question them. It appears there are shades of North Korea in Essex Conservatives' style of governance, rather than the bright new Conservative image peddled by David Cameron."