Council Drama: Conservatives Push Costly Inquiry While Lib Dems Champion Fiscal Responsibility

At last night's Full Council meeting, residents witnessed an odd moment of political theatre as a Conservative councillor proposed an inquiry… into their own party’s historic financial management of the Borough.

The motion, which lacked clarity and seemed more performative than practical, quickly unravelled. Even the proposer struggled to explain what he was asking for — eventually admitting that the information he wanted was already available in two previous CIPFA reports. All while showing little concern for how much a full-blown inquiry would cost the taxpayer and exemplifying the kind of thinking that got us into this situation in the first place.

In contrast, the Liberal Democrats took a measured, evidence-based approach. Supported by sensible Independent councillors, we amended the motion to bring a detailed paper to Full Council instead — one that will include: 

🔶Estimated costs
🔶A clear analysis of the benefits and drawbacks
🔶An honest look at whether launching a full inquiry is the best use of public money

Like residents, we all want to see the people who trashed our council’s finances before 2023 held to account, but it cannot be at any cost. 

Our residents deserve transparency AND financial responsibility — not political point-scoring at their expense.

We’ll keep standing up for common sense, accountability, and doing what’s right for RBWM as we fix the mess. 

Read more about CIPFA's findings here: https://www.windsorlibdems.org.uk/news/article/rbwm-systems-processes-and-the-cipfa-2020-review-a-commentary