Conservatives and Liberal Democrats to Provide New Leadership for Reading

The Conservative and Liberal Democrat groups on Reading Borough Council today announced that they are finalising an agreement with each other to form a majority administration to run Reading Borough Council.

At the recent local elections over 60% of the votes cast were for the Conservatives or Liberal Democrats. Following the example of the two parties in national government, the two council groups embarked on a process of negotiation that resulted in this agreement to work together.

The agreement to work as a coalition is driven by a shared desire to deliver change and improve services.  A key objective of the coalition administration will be to put the council finances on a firm footing after many years of Labour mismanagement.

There is undoubtedly an appetite for change in Reading and this year, as in the previous three local elections, the Conservatives achieved the most votes across Reading Borough. By agreeing to work together with the Liberal Democrats I very much hope that we can deliver some much needed change for the people of Reading. At the local elections our number one pledge was a freeze in Council Tax and I am sure that most people in Reading will welcome some relief from the seeming constant increases under Labour.

A coalition will bring its own stresses and tensions but with goodwill from both sides it can be made to work for the benefit of the whole town.