Is Cameron shifting austerity blame before election?

He was apparently referring to the reserves that, like all other councils, Cornwall Council are obliged to have.

Of course in a nutshell, if Cornwall Council spend their reserves filling the hole in government funding this year, there will be no reserves for anything in future years, least of all for emergencies.

I have no political bias at all, and would feel exactly the same whatever political party a Prime Minister belonged to, had they issued a statement such as Mr Cameron has.

Does the Prime Minister have time to scrutinise the budgets of all local councils, or is it just Cornwall Council that he has a seemingly amazing insight to?

It is a short time until a general election; all of a sudden it appears to me there is a game of pass the blame for cuts in services. I find it totally outrageous that a government that has cut funding dramatically to Cornwall Council and does not even afford them a proper rural allowance, now appears to want to cause unrest within the county.

In my opinion Mr Cameron is leading people to think that Cornwall Council are mis-managing their finances, when it would appear it is himself that has no idea how to manage a budget and reserves.

Cornwall Council spent time and effort holding public consultations before setting their budget, and they have overcome many hurdles. Of course there may be room for more savings to be made within the council, but they do not have a magic wand, nor can they spend all their reserves.

We have some very good hard working dedicated local Cornwall Councillors, they do not deserve to have the blame passed to them for cuts in services due to inadequate government funding. These councillors are voluntary, have an allowance for which to cover their expenses, they do not take home the wages of government ministers.

I think that was an unjustified statement the Prime Minister made and he should apologise to Cornwall Council.

Gill Zella Martin