UK local councils facing bankruptcy hike council taxes by up to 25% - the Marxist Labour government cancels local authority elections

Another step on the road to economic and financial collapse as a result of tax and spend on, especially, net zero and illegal immigration

Local authority tax hikes are going to hit these places - Windsor and Maidenhead 25% up, Hampshire 15%, North Somerset, Bradford 15%, Newham in East London 10%, Cheshire, East Birmingham and Slough 8-10%

As always, these hikes (part of the "tax and spend” dogma reflecting lack of quality) will disproportionately hit the poor, the elderly and the infirm the hardest.

Why are these councils mismanaging finances so badly - there's no excuse.

(Local councils in the UK cannot increase their rates by more than 5% UNLESS they are bankrupt or approaching bankruptcy.)

I can think of a few possible reasons for bankruptcy or its approach! DEI policies, overpaid staff, wasteful spending, “net zero” measures, illegal immigration and incompetent, lunatic political leadership!

Take Windsor and Maidenhead - run by the Liberal Democrats with 21 out of 41 council seats - capturing 1,322 votes - 51.6% of a 30% turnout - around 15.5% of the electorate of around 4,300.

These characteristics resemble those at the national level. 30% voting support amidst an historic low turnout of 60% - but 2/3 of Parliamentary seats!

Local authorities in the UK are no stranger to bankruptcy.

https://www.newstatesman.com/spotlight/economic-growth/regional-development/2024/01/council-bankruptcy-tracker-local-government-authorities-finances

“Six local authorities have declared bankruptcy since 2021. Spotlight looks at the financial situation at English councils.”

https://lgiu.org/press-release/over-half-of-councils-face-bankruptcy-within-next-parliament/

“More than half (51%) of senior council figures warn their councils are likely to go bust in the next parliament unless local government funding is reformed, reveals a new report from the Local Government Information Unit (LGIU), with 9% of council respondents saying they were likely to declare effective bankruptcy in the next financial year – representing 14 unique councils.

A mere 4% of respondents had confidence in the sustainability of local government finance and only 6% are happy with central government’s performance on understanding the scale of the problem facing council finances.”

The issue is discussed the first few minutes of this podcast:

"IDIOT!" | Mike Graham BLASTS Ed Miliband

From here:

Powers and Duties of Local Councils - Cumbria Association of Local Councils

“A council must:

• appoint a chairman of the council.

• appoint officers as appropriate for carrying out its functions

• appoint an independent and competent internal auditor

• appoint a responsible financial officer (RFO) to manage the council’s financial affairs (The RFO is often the clerk, especially in smaller councils)

• hold a minimum number of four meetings per year, one of which must be the Annual Meeting of the Council
  consider the provision of allotments if there is demand for them from local residents and it is reasonable to do so

• hold an annual Parish / Town meeting

• comply with its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act (2000), the Data Protection Act (1998) and the Equality Act (2010), General Data Protection Act (GDPR) and the Localism Act 2011

• comply with employment law

• consider the impact of their decisions on reducing crime and disorder in their area

• have regard to the protection of biodiversity in carrying out their functions

• decide whether to adopt a churchyard when it is closed, if asked to do so by the Parochial Church Council

It seems to me that three eds to be a rigorous review of council expenditures - starting from a “zero based budget” approach - start from scratch and make the accounts accessible, legible and open to debate.

This is another sign that the problems faced by the UK, the country needs an enema to rid itself of ridiculous regulations and laws that serve no purpose other than the self-interest of politicians and their virtue-signalling dogmas.

The response from the Marxist Labour government?

Cancel local authority elections.

Half of county councils in England could see election delay - BBC News

“More than half of the county councils in England with elections scheduled for this year could seek to have the votes postponed, the BBC can reveal.

At least 14 out of 21 county councils due to hold elections in May are poised to ask ministers to delay the ballots to explore options set out in a major redesign of local government announced in December.”

Onwards!