There is a £101m in black hole in Tories’ plans for the Borough. In their manifesto, that has finally been published after the Tories attempted to hide it, the Tories have stated that they expect to receive £41m from additional business rates income to cover the cost of expensive promises they are making. They have also stated they will freeze council tax for four years.
There is no new money projected for business rates and this combined with the council tax freeze and other new services promised by the Conservative manifesto means that the Tories face a £101m budget black hole over the next four years.
There is £101m less money coming in than needed to pay for what they have promised and to meet the Tory-led government’s demands for budget cuts. The only way this black hole can be closed is by draconian cuts to the services the council provides.
Labour council leader Cllr Julian Bell said:
“This huge miscalculation shows that the Tories have absolutely no clue about the Borough’s finances and cannot be trusted to run the council. Now this huge financial hole has appeared in their plans they will either have to rip up their manifesto or impose huge cuts to services to balance their budget. It is clear that the only choice for local people to protect their services is to vote Labour on May 22nd.”