Councillors who voted through the inflation busting 4.99 per cent rise in council tax are clearly living on a completely different planet to the many, many Islanders who’ve seen their businesses completely decimated, or have lost their jobs and livelihoods during the dreadful pandemic.

We are more than a year into this global pandemic and our IW Council leader, Cllr Dave Stewart, talks about the council’s hopes to rebuild the Island in the future.

It would have been nice if he were able to have reeled off a huge list of things the council has already done to support those in our community who, through no fault of their own, find themselves in truly desperate circumstances, but given our council has done precious little to support many of them, that of course is not possible.

As we tentatively begin to embrace a future that inevitably will be a very challenging new normal for many in our community, what our Island desperately needs is new and more credible IW Council leadership.

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