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Reform UK Warrington has responded to the latest revelations regarding Warrington Borough Council's financial position, following reports highlighting ongoing concerns over the authority's accounts and financial management. Jamie Vanden, Chair of Reform UK Warrington, said: "The perilous state of the town's finances has been known about for the last few years. However, the fact that the last six years of the Council's accounts are still awaiting final external sign-off is quite shameful. We have now heard through the Scrutiny Committee just how serious the Labour-run Council's management of public money has become. Local taxpayers deserve transparency, accountability and competent financial management. The Labour administration must take responsibility for the position it has placed the town in. Warrington residents should not be left paying the price for years of poor financial decision-making. Reform UK Warrington stands ready to offer a credible alternative when local elections take place." Our branch will continue to campaign on local issues that matter to residents, including council finances, value for money, and...

Recently the much awaited Best Value Inspection Report on the finances of Warrington Borough Council was published. It contains a huge amount of information covering 71 pages, including appendices. The report contains some serious issues with the state of the finances that need to be brought to the attention of every council tax payer in the Borough. The current Council borrowing is £1.9 billion. This is more debt than that of a number of small countries. There are 98,000 households in the Borough and this level of debt represents £19,400 per household. The total budgeted income for 2025/26 is £197 million and if expressed as a ratio to borrowing, it is 9.7 years. A typical mortgage lender would only allow borrowing of 3 times annual income, but the Public Works Loan Board, who have lent the Council the majority of the money, do not appear to use such criteria when making loans. On reviewing the budget information in the Report, and that...