A senior Executive Member of the Independent administration of the Isle of Wight Council has accused Conservative councillors in County Hall of ‘attempting to undermine and derail the most difficult budget in the history of the Isle of Wight Council’.
According to Councillor Phil Jordan, at a Full Council meeting held on Wednesday the Leader of the conservative group of Councillors at County Hall tabled an amendment motion, without any prior warning to other Councillors, that ‘effectively threatens the entire Budget process’ due to be set at Full Council in February.
Speaking today, Cllr Jordan, on behalf of the Independent Group who have managed the local authority since May 2013 said:
“This years’ budget is the most difficult and cutting this Authority has ever seen and in an attempt to find a majority agreement with the whole process, a working group of cross chamber Councillors was set up during 2015 to address the problem”.
That group was called the Budget & Policy Liaison Group (BPLG) and consisted of two Conservative Councillors, three Independent Councillors, one Labour councillor, one UKIP Councillor and two Independent middle group Councillors, along with two senior officers.
Cllr Jordan went on to say:
“Work has been ongoing for many months and the most recent meeting held on Tuesday 19th January saw 71 budget cutting options discussed and generally agreed by all members of the BPLG present. That included the Leader of the conservative group. No dispute arose and no indication was given that the decisions taken were not agreed and acceptable to all present. Some items were marked for further discussions”.
The Council has to find revenue savings of approximately £17.95M for the coming financial year 2016/17 and further savings of around £10m in 2017/18. The Council Tax increase is built into the budget and failure to raise Council Tax this year will move the budget gap to around £20m for 2016/17.
Cllr Jordan added:
“The residents of this Island deserve better than this.
“For the conservatives to agree beforehand, and over many months, an agreed strategy and approach to the crippling financial predicament the Island faces, only to try to derail the whole budget process by tabling last minute amendments during the debate and voting against the previously agreed approach puts the entire financial stability of this Authority at risk and the continued existence of the Authority into real doubt. Even in a political environment the utter dishonesty and double dealings by the conservative group in County Hall are astonishing, unacceptable and contemptuous of the people they represent who must, surely, also want to see a legal and lawful budget set.
“I am publicly calling on the Leader of the conservative group to explain his group’s actions in trying to derail the budget setting process and why conservatives voted against proposals to set the budget as previously agreed by members of his group at the Budget & Policy Liaison Group meeting. The residents of this Island should be told why conservatives are putting the existence of the local authority at severe risk”.
