Political Spin on Council Finances (Saffron Walden Constituency Liberal Democrats)

Saffron Walden Constituency Liberal Democrats <info@saffronwaldenlibdems.org.uk>

Political Spin on Council Finances

August 3, 2007 8:56 AM

Liberal Democrat councillors on Uttlesford District Council have called on the ruling Tory council group to stop the political spin over the council's finances. At Tuesday's (30th July) council meeting the draft annual accounts were approved for auditing in the presence of staff from the government's watchdog, the Audit Commission. The draft accounts show financial errors were made by council staff earlier this year that led to confusion over both last year's accounts and the current year's budget.

At the meeting Cllr Robert Chambers, chair of the finance and administration committee, failed to present the accounts in a professional manner and devoted his whole speech to an attack on the previous Liberal Democrat administration. He said that the council had been heading for bankruptcy but offered no evidence to support that allegation.

Cllr Geoffrey Sell, Lib Dem spokesperson for finance and administration, said: "In my opinion Cllr Robert Chambers damaged the reputation of the council. He smeared the professional integrity of council officers by suggesting that their advice was leading the council into bankruptcy. Cllr Chambers' attempt to play party politics with the council's finances had boomeranged on him. Nothing less than a public retraction and an apology to council officers and members will be adequate to repair the damage,"

Cllr Alan Dean, Lib Dem chair of scrutiny, added: "The Audit Commission were present observing Tuesday's council meeting. They saw a party political diatribe rather than a reasoned analysis of the council's finances. Sadly the draft accounts were not even referred to by Cllr Chambers, let alone examined in any detail. The Audit Commission saw a political opportunist at work and not someone who really cares about the reputation of the council."

Cllr Peter Wilcock, leader of the Liberal Democrat group, said: "I am calling for an open and transparent investigation into what went wrong with Uttlesford's financial management this year. In particular, the public deserves to have an honest assessment by independent auditors rather than the misleading spin from Conservative councillors. I have asked the chief executive to correct false impressions given by the Tories at last week's council meeting. The Liberal Democrats would always own up if they made mistakes and ignored the advice of professional officers. Cllr Jim Ketteridge and his Conservative administration must now convince all of us that they are capable of running this council with integrity.