Cllr Whetton’s letter to the Messenger (Tories left Trafford in good financial shape, June 28) has confirmed what most Trafford residents have realised for some time — that Trafford Conservative Party truly is living in a parallel universe to them.

Apparently, Cllr Whetton believes Trafford residents should celebrate what he considers a tremendous end of year £2.75 million surplus the Conservative Party left the council at the end of its 14-year control of the council.

I wonder, Cllr Whetton, what type of niggardly political party takes pride in seeing such a huge budget surplus after eight years of ideologically driven austerity where council budgets across the country, including Trafford’s, have been cut by 50 per cent?

What type of miserly outfit beams at surpluses standing idle as pot holes plague our roads to an extent never seen before?

Perhaps the Tories would still be in power if they had managed the budget better and spent more of that genius surplus fixing the roads.

For potholes were the number one issue residents flagged to me when I was canvassing this year.

What type of penny pinching gang revels as they pile up an idle surplus while the elderly go without essential care services? Why wasn’t at least an extra million spent on this, our most vulnerable group of residents by the end of this financial year?

What type of penurious tricksters sign a 15-year contract to a private-sector company, with no get out clauses, and then sit back contentedly watching the state of our parks, cemeteries and green spaces cry out for the most basic of care and attention?

What tight-wad spivery rejoicing at such a surplus after rejecting Labour’s proposal earlier this year to re-establish a youth service for 12 months to address the rising levels of youth knife crime on our streets — a youth service that Trafford Tories previously folded?

But hey, we have a £2.5 million surplus, all is well and Trafford is looking like a palace right now isn’t it?

Hard-working residents have never had it so good, apparently.

Well, Cllr Whetton, the voters of Flixton, Altrincham, Davyhulme East and West don’t inhabit the rosy picture of Trafford you paint and, having a firmer grip on reality, they voted for change in May.

Speak to the people of Brooklands, Cllr Whetton. They voted Labour for the first time in the 44-year existence of the ward. Every day they see filthy roads full of holes that don’t get cleaned or fixed despite reporting them countless times (at least, that is, until I started getting them fixed in my campaign this year).

They see their parks and cemeteries neglected, their children’s school budgets cut, the number of police officers based in the Sale area decimated.

They see the rise and rise of food banks around their neighbourhood.

This is why Labour saw a 54 per cent increase in its vote in Brooklands, Cllr Whetton, a 10.8 per cent swing to Labour making it the largest party in the council and causing your party to lose control.

Perhaps you also see that as a sign of your party’s success, such is your state of delusion.

One reality, however, may shake you out of your torpor, the Conservative majority in your ward fell by over 80 per cent in May.

Cllr Steven Longden

Brooklands