29/08/06 - Cllr Tomlinson, Labour All Talk - Yet We Pay?!

Labour are wasting public money on the "wages of spin".

The number of Government press officers has trebled since Labour came to power nine years ago.

There are now more than 3,200 in London and other parts of the country, according to the Daily Telegraph.

This breaks down into 1,815 in Whitehall with a further 1,444 PR staff employed by 200 quangos and agencies funded by the taxpayer.

When Labour won the 1997 General Election, the civil service only had 300 fully fledged PR officers, the Telegraph says.

Government spending on advertising, marketing and public relations has also risen threefold from £111m in 1997 to £322m last year.

Shadow Cabinet Office secretary Oliver Heald said: "Under Labour, taxes have soared. But rather than improving our public services, the money has been wasted on wages of spin."

Cllr Justin Tomlinson, North Swindon Conservative Parliamentary Candidate, "It is bad enough that Labour are all talk and no action, but now we discover we the tax payer have to bank roll their own propoganda.  Labour should be ashamed of the way they waste public money."