A Liberal Democrat amendment was agreed upon by Bolton Council in a tempestuous budget meeting where hundreds of public service jobs were cut. Cllr Roger Hayes, Lib Dem leader, put forward the amendment which included reducing the number of the Executive from 10 to seven, reducing members’ allowances by five to 10 per cent depending on responsibility, and going back to a slimmed down committee system. Other methods employed to slash £41 million from the budget included stopping the council’s Scene newspaper.