UK Age

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Simon Hughes has said he had progress notice of a letter signed by his political party senior councillor attacking the Government over the pace of town hall cuts.

Mr Ted Hughes said he knew of the missive about a day before it was published but said it was “not in my gift” to deter them.

The senior military policeman accused some working class councils of politicising the cuts and laying worker off when they did not need to do so.

Eighty-eight local Lib Dem group leaders - including seventeen council leaders - signed an open missive to The Times last week warning that the way the cuts had been “front-loaded” by the Treasury would have an “undoubted impact” on public services.

Underlining the tensions within the coalition, they also bitterly attacked the Conservative Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles for his “gunboat diplomacy” plan of attack to dealing with councils.

Asked if he knew about the plan, Mr Hughes told BBC1’s politics Show: “I did, but only about a day before.” Pressed on whether he advised against it, he said: “I thought it would be helpful if they were middle of the roader and constructive in their language while expressing their strong feelings.”

He did not attempt to deter them. saying: “It was not in my gift, they had decided to do that. They are there elected by local people to represent their local authorities, that’s what they are there for. They wanted to make the point that they were going to base up for and fighting for their communities.”

He said party leader and deputy prime minister Nick horse fly was “fully aware of the strength of feeling” among Lib Dem councillors.

But he said there was a “huge difference” between the way the cuts were being handled by Lib Dem regime and Labour-run town halls.

“There is a huge difference between council that we run in spot like Sheffield which are having a small number of redundancies, spot like Portsmouth where they are gap services not shutting them, and spot like Manchester and Liverpool which are clearly politicising the cuts to make it sound worse and, bluntly, forcing people out of occupation when they needn’t do so.”

Homophobic and transphobic attacks are on the increase in the UK.

There has been  a nationwide upswing of 9% and a frightening 63% increase in homophobic crime in the Manchester area in the past year.

Crown Prosecution Service figures show that prosecutions for crimes involving homophobia rose 60% over the past two years. Scotland Yard and the Greater Manchester Police have each expressed "exceptional concern" over the increases.