Ministers have ordered an independent review of the finances of Warrington Borough Council and in particular the amount of borrowing the Council has undertaken. This is a serious step and follows other councils effectively declaring bankruptcy because the investments haven’t delivered the returns promised.
Councils shouldn’t be using public cash to speculate, it puts services at risk and as we’ve seen elsewhere can have a disastrous impact on local services if things go wrong.
In Parliament today I called on the Government to take steps to finally bring an end to risky and reckless behaviour of local Councils.
I agree with Appleton Conservative Councillor Ken Critchley who recently said “for the sake of Warrington’s financial stability, the Labour Controlled Council needs to reduce its debt by selling its low return property portfolio. The consequences of not doing this could well be disastrous for Warrington.”
