MP's Attack on Tory Council's 'War Chest'

7.15.15pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 6th Sep 2004

Vincent Cable, MP, has added his criticism to the council's policy of holding a large 'war chest' - financial reserves of around £40m.

Vincent Cable said: "Of course there have to be prudent levels of reserves to deal with unexpected events. But this is ridiculous.

"It makes no sense to hoard cash while very basic local services are being squeezed out of existence - like the petty cuts of removing public toilets in Twickenham and Teddington".

"I am also concerned about the impact of extreme levels of reserves on relations with the government. Whichever party has been in power locally I have supported the council's argument that it gets a bad deal from the government, forcing up council tax to painful levels. In fact this council has had several extra pay outs from the government; and since these are not being passed onto residents the government will argue that Richmond has got more money than it knows what to do with".

"The official justification for the reserves is that the council has big capital funding requirements, particularly for new secondary schools. But no progress has been made in identifying a site for a new school on the Twickenham side".

"A more cynical interpretation is that the reserves are a "war chest", and are being stored up to cut council tax and finance services in the run up to the next council elections".