Councillor Paul Stuart hit back at calls from the Green Party that he should stand aside
Wirral Council meeting at Wallasey Town Hall as councillors hear from auditors. Pictured Leader of the Council Cllr Paul Stuart. Photo by Colin Lane(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)
Wirral Council’s leader hit back at critics as he faced calls to step aside during an “embarrassing” emergency meeting called over the critical state of the local authority’s finances.
Tensions were on display in public at Wallasey Town Hall between councillors after the council was told to get a grip on the spiralling crisis.
The meeting was called after the local authority’s external auditors Grant Thornton published their assessment of the council’s finances for the previous financial year between April 2023 and March 2024.
They found a number of significant weaknesses in the local authority, made several recommendations including the unusual step of requesting under law the council debate their report in public due to the severity of the council’s situation.
READ MORE: ‘Sh*t is hitting the fan’: Inside crisis hit Wirral CouncilREAD MORE: Council facing ‘highly likely’ bankruptcy pleads for £40m bailout
The meeting comes at a troubling time for the local authority with councillors expected to request an emergency bailout of up to £40m this week as council finance bosses say bankruptcy is “highly likely” without it.
The government said it had given Wirral £32m for next year already and is “working hand in hand” with local authorities. Sparks flew during the meeting, with Wirral’s Council leader Councillor Paul Stuart hitting back at calls from the Green Party that he should stand aside defiantly telling councillors the opposition party was failing to take responsibility for its actions.
Pictured Leader of the Council Cllr Paul Stuart. Photo by Colin Lane(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)
Though Wirral is led by Labour, the leading party do not have an overall majority meaning any decision needs to be cross party. Cllr Stuart said every councillor was involved in decisions, adding: “It is time for political groups to stop blaming previous administrations for the difficult financial situation that the council finds itself in.”
He said no decision could be made by just one party and the council had had its funding cut by a quarter while costs had gone up. Before this, Cllr Jo Bird, co-leader of Wirral’s Green Party said the council “sorely needs a new style of leadership” arguing it should be “focused on good outcomes for people and the environment, not on doing the wrong things.”
She criticised Conservatives over austerity and their opposition to parking charges as well as decisions by Labour councillors, including Cllr Stuart, over the council’s Birkenhead office buildings.
She said money was being “wasted every single day while precious jobs and services are facing the chop,” adding: “Some of the very same councillors are still driving our council to the brink of bankruptcy yet again.”
Wirral Council meeting at Wallasey Town Hall as councillors hear from auditors. (Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)
However Cllr Stuart said: “Both you and your party are very good at purporting blame and taking no accountability of the decisions that you make.”
He said the decisions over the council’s offices was based on a previous officer’s advice and they would “absolutely not” have built them under current circumstances arguing the decision was made “at a different time and different economic climate.”
The Liberal Democrat’s Cllr Phil Gilchrist said councillors should “not settle old scores” as the council faces a serious situation and needed to work together. Conservative opposition leader Cllr Jeff Green repeated his criticisms of previous Labour leaders for using backup reserves to fund the council’s budget, urging councillors “to deal with this issue properly and seriously.”
He added: “Simply burying your head in the sand and pretending this isn’t going to happen isn’t going to help the residents they say they care so much about,” adding: “We can sit here and blame each other but what I think the residents of Wirral want is action.”
Stronger criticism towards Labour came from Conservative Cllr Simon Mountney said it was “the most embarrassing day” in his entire time at the council arguing it had “received a really good public caning for our actions,” adding: “Why is it when you come to this place you feel empowered to irresponsible spend other people’s money?”
Addressing criticisms from the Conservatives, Cllr Stuart said: “We are where we are because of austerity. We are where we are because of 14 years of local authorities and the NHS being decimated,” adding Labour was committed to setting a balanced budget “that benefits our communities with what we have to be able to achieve that.”
Grant Thornton’s report published last week as well as the plans to request another bailout has brought into focus the local authority’s perilous position just months after it was told it had made significant progress. Concerns are being raised commissioners could be brought in to make sweeping decisions that could affect key services taking power out of local hands.
One councillor before the meeting said they expected to “get roasted by council auditors” while a staff member as part of an LDRS special report said: “Senior officers are blaming elected members and elected members are blaming officers. It’s split both the main parties and I think it’s only just sinking in what it means.”
The local authority previously had to request emergency government support in 2021 and 2022 with £11m of this still needing to be paid back. This led to an independent panel being appointed for two years.
Up to £20m is expected to be needed to bail out the council so it can avoid issuing a Section 114 notice, effectively declaring bankruptcy, before April while a further £20m is reportedly needed to help the council transform its services from April. Another review of council finances is currently underway.