Conservatives can’t be trusted with public finances

At Wednesday's Full Council Meeting Finance Portfolio Holder Councillor Michael Headley outlined the plan to reduce the council's funding gap this year. The plan sets out the measures that are already being taken to balance the budget in the face of unprecedented financial challenges that are impacting local authorities across the country. After years of Conservative government cuts to local government, councils (like all residents) are facing record high inflation, soaring energy prices and stagnant economic growth.

During the meeting, the Conservatives seemed to forget the current state of the national finances due to the last few years of government chaos.

Cllr Michael Headley said "The good financial management of this council is why we're not in the same situation as many other authorities across the country. If you look at many Conservative-run councils like Croydon, Leicestershire and most recently Thurrock, they have 10s of millions - sometimes 100s of millions - in funding gaps. Of course in Northamptonshire, the local authority effectively declared itself bankrupt and was then abolished.

"Many other councils have lots of external borrowing meaning a large proportion of their budget is spent on interest on that debt. We inherited a lot of debt from the Conservative County Council and we have taken action to reduce it from over £90 million to £65 million. This means we are spending less on debt and have more funding available for vital services for residents. When you compare this to Central Bedfordshire Council, we are spending around 50% less on debt interest as a proportion of the total budget. This has given us the headroom to manage the external pressures we have been facing in this year's budget.

"The Conservative group has members who were responsible for running the former County Council, including a cabinet member. They left us to inherit £90m debt and charged one of the highest council tax rates in the country - so I don't think we should be looking to them for advice on sound financial management."