Labour accused of blatantly obstructing challenges to financial and governance decisions

AN opposition Tory Cllr. has accused Labour members and senior council officers of blocking proper examination and full openness of the Council’s finances at the Council’s key Audit and Corporate Governance Committee.

Cllr Mark Jervis says he has been shocked by recent events at meetings accusing the controlling Labour group of blatantly obstructing and resisting timely and open challenge of their financial and governance decisions, leaving him wondering what they have to hide.

The Committee is tasked with overseeing financial and governance decisions made by the Labour Cabinet and the council’s delegated Council Officers.
At the last two meetings of the Committee, the Conservative representative says he has faced various obstacles in seeking to ensure the Committee fulfils its important role. These obstacles have included:
-the Council Deputy Chief Executive temporarily walking out of the February meeting thereby curtailing debate on the Council’s dubious and apparently failing £10m investment in the Mailbox building in Birmingham.
-Labour and Liberal Democrat Councillors blocking a proposed Conservative amendment to the minutes of the February meeting seeking to properly reflect these events. This meant that the minutes of the February meeting were approved despite incorrectly stating that the Committee noted a report on the Mailbox investment which it did not.
-Labour and Senior Officers respectively preventing and resisting debate on the Mailbox investment at the next meeting in April.
-Labour Councillors preventing detailed Conservative questions on the Council’s Treasury Management Practices.
-Labour withholding a Chartered Institute for Public Finance (CIPFA) report from Committee members. The report, which was requested by the Committee, was tasked to examine the effectiveness of the Audit Committee. It was withheld from Committee Members at the meeting despite Officers having been given sight of the report with the opportunity to comment. Only the Labour Committee Chair has seen the report.

Cllr Mark Jervis was the Conservative representative at the March meeting of the Committee. He commented: “I was truly shocked by the events at the meeting. The Council is a significant outlier amongst local authorities in England with £1.8Billion of Council Debt, nearly 6 years of accounts yet to be signed off by the External Auditor and a number of failed and dubious investments such as Together Energy, Redwood Bank, Altana Corporate Bond and Mailbox.”
“Over the last few years, we have seen the Council Leadership resist Conservative calls to learn the lessons from its investment failures. It is therefore a real concern for every resident in Warrington that Labour and Senior Officers appear to want to limit proper and timely oversight of their financial and governance decisions at the very committee established to provide proper checks and balances.”
“I was further dismayed when Labour and the Liberal Democrat representative failed to ensure the Minutes provided an accurate record of the Mailbox-related events at the February 2024 Audit and Corporate Governance Committee meeting. Too often Liberal Democrats provide no effective challenge or opposition to Labour.”
“Overall, my experience at the March Audit Committee meeting leaves me wondering what the Labour-run administration want to hide when they so blatantly obstruct and resist timely and open challenge of their financial and governance decisions.”

In response, Cllr Stephen Rydzkowski, Chair, Audit and Governance Committee hit back stating: “As chair of the Audit and Governance Committee I feel I have to respond to Councillor Jervis’ recent press release criticising the committee.
“The Audit and Governance Committee operates in an open and transparent manner and constructive challenge is always welcome. The Conservatives engage in this but refuse to accept that there is any other outcome except that they are always right. This approach is not being constructive but obstructive.
“They mention the lack of scrutiny over Mailbox by the committee. Yet at the February meeting we had a presentation by Richard Croft of M7/Martley Capital (Mailbox) and a question and answer session at which all members of the committee could ask any question on any subject associated with the investment.
“With regard to the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) report referred to by Councillor Jervis, this was a report requested by the committee itself as to how CIPFA could help us function better as a committee. This report has taken around nine months to compile by this outside organisation. The author of the report will present it to the committee at a future meeting and committee members will receive a copy of this report well in advance of this meeting. This is the same approach as reports presented to any other committee not just of this council but in any other organisation.
“Councillor Jervis and his Conservative counterparts may be happy to play politics with the Audit and Governance Committee but the rest of us on the committee are purely focused on making it work.”

Meanwhile, Cllr Denis Matthews, Cabinet Member for Corporate Finance added: “The Labour Administration continue to be committed to the open and transparent conduct of our town’s finances, and the Council’s 2024/25 Treasury Management Strategy was agreed by the Audit & Corporate Governance Committee (A&CGC) and Full Council in February 2024.
“It is a matter for individual members of the A&CGC as to whether they support the recommendations put forward by Conservative members after considering the merits of their proposals. Conservative members are obviously free to propose, make comment, and ask questions but that does not mean others are obligated to agree. Minutes of a meeting are agreed by a majority decision of the committee, and are a broad reflection of decisions made rather than a word for word transcript of the debate. These meetings are open to the public, and the agenda and reports to be considered are published on the WBC website for all to view.
“I am always happy to speak with Cllr Jervis should he have positive ideas that he feels would be to the benefit of the residents of Warrington.
“I understand that we have entered an election period, but it is my opinion that the people of Warrington expect all councillors to seek to genuinely work together to deliver positive good on their behalf.”

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