Lib Dems Ask for Council Leader’s Resignation

The Liberal Democrats are calling on the Council Leader to resign because he has allowed the reputation of a well-run Council to be destroyed.

The call came at an Extraordinary Meeting of the Council that took place to discuss the investment in Together Energy and the overall investment strategy.

Group Leader Cllr Bob Barr said: I wish the advice from my Group that investing in Together Energy was too risky, had been heeded. I wish that Together had not collapsed - a collapse triggered in part at by irresponsible meddling in the energy market by the Conservative Government. We don't know what the outcome will be.

While the Conservative Group and the MP for Warrington South push out a worst-case scenario, the administrators are trying to protect customers and creditors including Warrington residents and need to be left to complete their work without additional pressure. What I am upset about is the behaviour of the Conservative group calling this meeting before the outcome for Together is known.

Fairness and decency would have held up this action until the administrators report. The Conservative motions are all predicated on the worst possible outcome.

The Leader and his officers' investment strategy may prove to be defensible, but they have failed to defend it adequately despite me pressing them to do so for over two years. He has allowed a narrative, led by social media, to paint what is almost certainly a totally false picture of Warrington's investments. He is no longer believed.

He has allowed Warrington's reputation as a well-run Council to be destroyed in parts of the national press which is no doubt informed and encouraged by the Conservatives and their social media friends. To tarnish a town's reputation unfairly, simply for perceived political advantage is unconscionable.

However our investment position turns out, this situation cannot be rectified if Cllr Bowden remains as Leader, so my Group calls on him to resign.

Finance Spokesperson Cllr Ian Marks criticised Conservatives elsewhere: At Portsmouth, the Conservative Group was responsible for setting up a Council energy company that was closed down by the Liberal Democrats when they took control. At Spelthorne Council in Surrey their leader was ousted for serious failings on property investment. Their Government wasted billions of pounds on PPE and has been criticised for dubious financial practices. Local Tories complain about the Council's high debt but ignore the record levels of debt incurred by their government. Hypocrisy.

He also had a go at Labour for their choice of investment partners and the way they had carried out some of their transactions: Helen Jones, when MP, criticised the Council for the offshore connection in the successful Birchwood investment. The boss of the HUT Group, a donor to the Conservatives, had been attacked for breaching corporate governance guidelines and had lost confidence of investors. The founder of Redwood Bank was due to become Treasurer of the Conservative Party until details of his controversial past including money laundering were exposed in the popular press.

The Liberal Democrat amendment asking more cross-party working, openness and co-operation and for an opposition councillor to chair the Scrutiny Committee following the successful Parliamentary Select Committee model was turned down.

After the meeting Cllr Marks added: Conservative Controlled Shropshire County Council lost £31.5m on an unwise shopping centre investment in Shrewsbury. They paid the electoral price by losing their Leader's seat, followed by Owen Paterson's parliamentary seat to the Liberal Democrats. Clearly investment wisdom is not a Conservative strength. The Extraordinary Meeting achieved little and simply took up hundreds of hours of councillor and officer time.