Cash Crisis at Council but Conservative Councillors are Unrepentant

Tonight the Liberal Democrat-run RBWM Council presented the final CIPFA resilience report into the council’s finances and the Financial Improvement and Sustainability Plan that sets out the steps that must be taken to lift the council back from the brink of bankruptcy. 

This includes seeking government support and increasing council tax towards a sustainable level. 

From their performance during the debate, it appears that the remaining few Tory councillors are unapologetic, in denial, and had only the loosest grip of the seriousness of the situation. Some seemed not to have even read the papers. 

CIPFA are clear that years of council tax cuts under past Tory administrations, coupled with outrageous practices such as using capital for revenue spend, as well as years of unaudited accounts that hid millions of £ of errors, have us led to this place. 

And it’s the Liberal Democrats who are sorting out the mess.