NEWS that Bury Council has abandoned plans to close many local libraries has been welcomed by local MP David Sumberg - but he has doubts about whether the move was ever seriously intended. Mr Sumberg this week condemned the use of emotive issues by the Council.

"As a means of drawing attention to budget difficulties it can prove to be counter-productive," he said.

Saying he had been pleased to join in the campaign to keep the libraries open Mr Sumberg continued: "I am becoming extremely doubtful about the claims of doom and disaster made each year by Bury Council.

"Be it the closure of elderly peoples' homes or the closure of libraries, it seems to have become an annual event for a lot of people to be badly frightened - even though the predicted disaster never happens.

Describing Labour's use of these emotive issues as a "self defeating political ploy" Mr Sumberg said their tactics are unfair to those who are scared by the stories. "There is a general consensus shared by people from every political party in Bury that the revenue support grant for this area is unfair when compared to other local councils.

"This is why I have always been pleased to add my voice to Bury councillors in our joint demands to Ministers for more resources.

"But our arguments are bound to suffer when the Whitehall machine notes that there is an annual scare from Bury Council.

"This is inevitably seen as 'crying wolf' politics, and our campaign is bound to suffer accordingly," he concluded.

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