Haringey Council spent thousands on new chairs for councillors despite facing severe government cuts

HARINGEY Council has been lambasted for spending almost �10,000 on chairs for councillors while making �85million of cuts to other services.

News that the authority spent �104.57 on each chair for the council chamber - or �9,195 in total - comes just weeks after the council announced the first raft of cuts in a bid to axe �85million from the budget over the next three years.

Haringey Conservatives member Justin Hinchcliffe, who uncovered the figures using the Freedom of Information Act said: “Hypocritical Labour councillors wring their hands about having to make cuts to services. But they aren’t interested in cutting waste or red tape. They prefer to cut vital services in order to blame the coalition government.

“This decision shows how they always put themselves first rather then the people of Haringey whom they are meant to serve.”

A spokeswoman for the council said the chairs had to be replaced as the originals were in poor condition and did not meet current health and safety standards. She added that several had broken recently and the decision to replace the chairs was made before cuts were announced.