Running a deficit is “prudent management of money” say Rugby’s Tories

Rugby Borough Council's finance staff report that last year the Council missed its rates collection figures by £675,000 - see http://rugby.lib.dm/a3Zll . This was partly offset by better news in other areas of the budget but overall the Council had to take £275,000 from its reserves to avoid an overspend at the end of the year.

All this was nodded through the Council's cabinet on 29 June without either Conservative or Labour councillors challenging the shortfall - see http://rugby.lib.dm/a5ZlV .

At the Council meeting last night (21 July 2015) again Conservative and Labour councillors declined to challenge this shortfall. It was left to Liberal Democrat group leader Jerry Roodhouse to ask how this state of affairs could have arisen and what the Council was doing to stop it happening again.

Members of the public sitting in the gallery had their breath taken away by the conservatives' reply. Running a deficit is "prudent management of money" said Cllr Helen Taylor, the conservative cabinet member responsible for resources and governance. Have they told George Osborne?