Residents of Oxfordshire "misled" by three of county's district councils
At a cost of over £40,000, MORI was commissioned to run a survey to support negative campaign tactics, with questions that exploit residents’ understandable confusion about two-tier local government.
The survey was conducted against the backdrop of misleading statements about a “takeover” by a “remote unitary county council” when the fact is that the proposal is for an entirely new council. The survey also misled residents by suggesting unitary councillors would not be locally elected.
Oxford, Cherwell and West Oxfordshire councils have spent large six figure sums on consultants, campaigns and pollsters without putting forward a single workable proposal for the public to consider. What they don’t tell people is the real cost of the status quo with council tax payers’ money spent on running six councils instead of public services.
The majority of people in England already live in areas served by unitary councils, and they benefit from joined up services and lower running costs. Now is the time for Oxfordshire residents to enjoy those benefits too.”
Download a copy of the transcript here
This is a transcript of the script used by call centre agents working for Ipsos-MORI, which conducted the survey.
Visit the Better Oxfordshire website for more information, as well as background documents and frequently asked questions.