Heather Rawling, Leicestershire NUT (personal capacity)
Imagine how angry I felt when I read in our local paper that the Leicestershire Tory council leader, David Parsons, had cost taxpayers more than £1 million in expenses and allowances over the past five years.
Last year I was told that the two learning centres that I managed would have to close. All staff, including myself, were made redundant. The minibus company that brought the children to the centre went out of business as a direct result of losing our custom.
The learning centres worked with underachieving children. Children, teachers and parents told us we had made a huge difference to the lives of the children we worked with. We restored their self belief and confidence.
The Tories tell us that there is no alternative to making cuts but councillor Parsons’ £1 million would have kept both centres open for five years!
What did Parsons spend his expenses on? £210,000 funded his chauffeur driven use of the civic Ford Mondeo car. Trips included being driven to and from the Formula 1 British Grand Prix at Silverstone for the past three years. He has also been chauffeur driven to London to have lunch with a reporter and to Heathrow airport on several occasions.
£64,000 went on moving his office a few hundred yards. Now, when I moved house a few years ago, it cost less than £1,000 for the removal people to move all my belongings so I can’t fathom why it cost £64,000 to move a few bits of office furniture.
Councillor Parsons has frequently said that we are “all in this crisis together” and we all need to make sacrifices. Well, we lost our jobs and the children lost some valuable support. What sacrifices have you made Mr Parsons?
