This may cause some embarrassment for the Labour Leader, as it was the Union vote which put him in office.It was interesting to watch Mr Milliband make a hasty retreat from the Labour conference hall before the debate on public sector strikes took place - indeed no senior Cabinet figures were present for the debate yesterday.This issue does place Labour in some difficulty given their reliance on union funding & in particular the strident calls for action in the public sector are not going to change the essential facts that the public sector is still way too big.Partial apologies from Mr Balls will not wipe out recent memories where eye watering amounts of public cash was spent on projects that the country simply could not afford. Mr Balls then proceeded to advocate a significant increase in public expenditure.In Central Beds we have introduced a 2% reduction in staff salaries for all employees earning over £21,500 - that comes into play next week. We have had over 80% take up so far & we expect there to be a very small number of people who either refuse to accept a new contract or do not turn up to work.At the micro level we are having to implement policies which fall directly out of the years when the public sector was awash with your & my taxes. When that ran out we lived on borrowed cash!I am afraid the apology from Mr Balls rang hollow!
