GOVERNMENT Ministers have been urged by Chancellor Gordon Brown to reduce spending in their various Departments by as much as they can.
Mr Brown should issue the same request to his next-door neighbour, the Prime Minister.
In John Major's last year in office the cost of running Downing Street was £3.4 million.
In the first year of Tony Blair as Prime Minister the cost has risen to £4.1 million - a rise of 20 per cent and far higher than the rate of inflation.
And it is projected that for the coming year this spending will increase to £4.9 million.
Obviously, the call for prudent spending does not apply to the Prime Minister and his advisers at Downing Street.
COUNCILLOR D PEARSON, Rawstorne Street, Blackburn.
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