A donation of £20,000 could be made to good causes in memory of Woolwich terror victim Drummer Lee Rigby.
Bradford Council’s two biggest political parties are uniting behind a plan to donate £15,000 to Help for Heroes and a further £5,000 to the welfare fund of Drummer Rigby’s regiment, The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.
The cash would come from the contingency budget.
The move is being suggested by Council leader, Councillor David Green, and is being backed by Conservative Group leader Coun Glen Miller. It will be discussed at a full Council meeting on Tuesday.
Coun Miller said Coun Green had come up with the idea after hearing that Help For Heroes was refusing donations from the far-right English Defence League.
He said he had been happy to back it to show the parties’ united support, but said he had given a lot of thought to whether it was right to donate that much public money.
Coun Miller said: “Only six weeks ago, we gave £20,000 to the British Red Cross to spend in Palestine, and I said that it could be spent on frontline services. So I thought, ‘Is this being hypocritical?’ “But when I see the support our Armed Forces have in the district and the country as a whole, I would think if you took a straw poll, 99 per cent of people would prefer we donated to the Armed Forces rather than Palestine.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article