Black hole in council books

Issue goes beyond party politics

BORIS JOHNSON’S decision to go on the attack at Prime Minister’s Questions over Labour’s ambiguous attitude towards the reopening of schools resulted in Opposition leader Keir Starmer unconvincingly ducking repeated attempts to get him to say whether or not he believes it is now safe for some year groups to return.

But Mr Johnson’s tactics also meant that little light was shed on an issue affecting every council in the country, regardless of what political control they are under – that of whether local authorities will be able to balance the books after the pandemic.

When Sir Keir warned that local authority leaders face a choice between cutting core services or facing bankruptcy, Mr Johnson briefly outlined the support that has already been pledged before quickly pivoting to an attack on some Labour councils for not opening schools back up. However, attempts by the Prime Minister to try to turn this into a partypolitical issue or conflate the matter with school reopenings should not wash.

Last month, the Conservative leader of Lancashire County Council warned that the impact of coronavirus would be “far in excess” of the £3.2bn of extra funding pledged by the Government to date. That was followed this week by the County Councils Network – whose finance spokesman is Carl Les, the Conservative leader of North Yorkshire County Council – warning they are facing a funding shortfall running into billions.

It comes after Yorkshire council chief executives warned in early May they were so worried many were considering “pressing the nuclear button” and effectively declaring bankruptcy through Section 114 notices en masse.

Pointing the finger at the Opposition over a different matter may work temporarily in PMQs, but Mr Johnson must recognise this deeply serious issue is not going to disappear.