'Labour Council delivered for Edinburgh' claims current Lib-Dem Council Leader!

I mentioned yesterday how much I was looking forward to reading all my e-mails upon my return to work today ...

... well, the one I've enjoyed most is the 'New Year Message' from our dear Council Leader wherein she boldly proclaims:

"The Council, and its staff, has already proven its ability to deliver for Edinburgh. As Scotland's most improved urban authority we are leading the way in providing the services our residents want."

What she fails to mention is just what that claim is based upon - so I'll tell you instead:

• it comes from Audit Scotland, the public spending watchdog, who recently identified Edinburgh as Scotland's most improved urban council
• in fact, I blogged about it when the report came out in November 2008 - see here
• the actual Council report, which summarises all this can be found here, and paragraph 5.2 has the 'most improved urban authority' statement
• the whole assessment upon which this claim rests is contained within Appendices 1 and 2 of the report - PLEASE have a quick look at pages 6 through to 14 here
• you'll see the three years upon which the claim is based are;
• 2005/2006 - Labour in control, and Labour set the budget
• 2006/2007 - Labour in control, and Labour set the budget
• 2007/2008 - Lib/Nats in control, but Labour set the budget!

Totally outrageous - a politician taking the credit for something which they played no part in delivering ... indeed, they actually opposed all three budgets upon which this success is based.

I've never heard the like of it ;-)