The war of words in Bedfordshire has reached a new low, with Bedford borough mayor, Frank Branston, comparing the county council to the Nazis. Mr Branston said he wished the county council would ‘wake up and smell the coffee' over reorganisation in the county. ‘County hall is becoming reminiscent of the last days of the Third Reich, with everything collapsing around them, even while they try to conjure up phantom armies to come to their rescue,' said Mr Branston. Cllr Nicky Attenborough, portfolio holder for unitary status, added that if the county council had made the Titanic ‘they would be continuing to deny it had sunk'. A Bedfordshire CC spokesman dismissed Mr Branston's comments as ‘over the top'. Mr Branston added that the borough council was working ‘positively' with both Mid Bedfordshire and South Bedfordshire district councils on a central Bedfordshire bid, which was due to be submitted to the DCLG by 17 December. Bedfordshire CC leader, Madeline Russell, has written to local government minister, John Healey. She said: ‘We are reiterating our firmly-held belief that a county-wide unitary is the only way to deliver affordable local government, and avoid the cuts to services.'
