I am not surprised Labour has targeted me once again.

Having previously been called ineffective and superfluous we now have the Labour cabinet member for social services submitting FOIs against me but I am only one of six Independents when Labour has 40-plus councillors

1 Is this the norm? Why am I targeted for asking challenging questions for the people that I was elected to represent?

2 The FOI submissions are available on council sites or is cabinet member unaware of this?

3 Does the Labour councillor have the support of the Labour leader and cabinet, and is it written into their job descriptions and objectives?

4 On April 3, 2023, I wrote a series of questions over the consultants report on day care centres which is the area for which she has responsibility. There is still no response, and when I asked the answer was told council officers will respond in July, that is three months, which is not acceptable.

I leave the public to judge, and the Labour leadership to comment on why they treat a single independent councillor like this.

I always want to be reasonable so I am happy to receive a public apology, but why will they not compromise and work in partnership, and why is targeting me one Independent councillor for Blackwood so important to them when I am trying to put all voters in my community first, regardless of their voting preferences?

Cllr Kevin Etheridge

Independent

Blackwood Ward