I WAS astonished to read that North Somerset council have effectively lost £3 million of taxpayers money by investing in a foreign Bank in Iceland. Executive member for finance Tony Lake

I WAS astonished to read that North Somerset council have effectively lost £3 million of taxpayers' money by investing in a foreign Bank in Iceland.

Executive member for finance Tony Lake said: "The money is part of a portfolio of investments that we have spread among a number of banks so that any potential risk is also spread."

I don't remember any Weston constituents asking the Conservative administration to take any risks with our money. I do remember 25,000 of us petitioning for a swimming pool on the Tropicana site which would have cost about £2million. Yet the Tories simply shredded that request. This would have left another million to be distributed amongst our pensioners who are some of the poorest in the South West, and could have helped alleviate their fuel bills this winter.

All this in spite of the fact that Lord Oakeshott, the Lib Dem spokesman for the Treasury, had warned about the solvency of Icelandic Banks over six months ago, and Lib Dem shadow chancellor Vince Cable warned of the inevitable bursting of the credit bubble.

On further investigation we now find one of the two main firms advising our poor, overworked and underpaid Tory councillors is a subsidiary of a company called the Icap group headed by none other than the Conservative party treasurer, Michael Spencer. Well, well, who could have guessed? The Tory administrations answer to the problem will be to simply increase the hideous council tax, whilst at the same time probably increasing their salaries, expenses and gold-plated pensions.

Wonderful, just as the economy slips into recession.

PAUL SPENCER - Shrubbery Road, Weston