YOUR chance to grill our leaders on council cuts

IT HAS been the most controversial council budget in years – the slashing of £27 million in spending across Aberdeen.

The knock-on effect has been felt throughout communities, giving rise to furious protests.

Now the Evening Express is giving you the chance to grill the city’s leaders.

We are hosting Council Cuts – The Live Debate at Aberdeen University next month before an invited audience.

And up for interrogation will be the four party bosses – council leader Kate Dean of the Lib-Dems and her deputy Kevin Stewart of the SNP, along with Labour leader Len Ironside and the Conservative’s Alan Milne.

The ruling Lib-dem/SNP administration has been savaged over its budget – but could the Opposition have done any better?

The debate – which EE columnist Frank Gilfeather will chair – is sure to be highly-charged against the backdrop of cuts. Bon Accord Baths is being axed, Doonies Farm will follow, and the Linx Ice Arena will be mothballed.

It has been also claimed up to 300 council jobs could go – a figure disputed by Town House bosses.

Council leader Kate Dean said she was ready to face her critics.

She said: “It will be a chance to explain the reasoning behind the budget. It will be good for us to have an open debate and explain why such decisions had to be made.”

Her deputy Kevin Stewart has argued there was a “statutory duty to balance the books” and a dire need to put finances “back on an even keel”.

He said: “I am pleased that the Evening Express has decided to hold this hustings, which will allow all of us to get a fair hearing.”

Referring to the cuts, Labour’s Len Ironside said his party could have produced a balanced budget without “going through this”. He has claimed that building a new council HQ instead of moving to Marischal College would have saved £60 million.

But do his sums really stack up? And what would the Conservatives have done?

Here is your chance to ask our politicians directly.

All you have to do to have a chance of taking part is fill out our coupon. We’ll be selecting the best questions, the ones that will make the decision-makers sweat – and you could be the one putting them on the spot.

Len Ironside expects the flak will be directed at the administration.

He said: “It’s a great opportunity for the administration to hear what the public thinks.”

The event will be held at King’s College on Thursday, April 10, from 7pm.

dewen@ajl.co.uk