'The cabinet should walk away if they can't sort Shropshire Council's finances' says Reform councillor

That is the view of Councillor Carl Rowley, the Reform UK representative for St Martins, who also said the previous administration’s opponents should share some of the blame for the council’s financial issues.

Last month the cabinet declared a financial emergency due to the dire situation the council finds itself in.

The authority has two accounts: the revenue account, which is supplied with day-to-day income; and the capital account, which can be used to invest and borrow for major projects.

Latest figures show that the position has actually worsened. As of August 31, the council was projecting an overspend of £35.531 million – that figure was £362,000 higher than the projection from the previous month which was presented to cabinet shortly before it declared a financial emergency.

It means that the authority could be in an illegal financial position by the end of March, and immediate emergency measures need to be taken to prevent a Section 114 notice being issued and Government commissioners called in.

The council is currently working with the Local Government Association (LGA) to improve the position, with an independent chair set to be appointed on the newly-formed Improvement Board early next month.

LGA funding has also been secured to provide additional support.

Councillor Roger Evans, the portfolio holder for finance, said the results show “what an absurd, ridiculous budget was set by the last Conservative administration in February” with their expectation being to make £60m worth of savings.

However, Councillor Rowley says that while the financial crisis is the result “of years of poor governance”, the previous opposition parties should take a share of the blame for what he says was a lack of effective scrutiny.

“They had ample opportunity to challenge the Conservatives’ fiscal approach, yet too often chose silence or token resistance over meaningful oversight,” said Councillor Rowley.

“Their failure to act allowed damaging policies to pass unchallenged and contributed to the erosion of public trust in the council’s ability to manage its finances.

“Councillor Evans may call the previous budget ‘absurd and ridiculous’, but his own administration has yet to present a credible alternative. Instead, the public is offered vague promises of ‘working with partners’, ‘developing a new Shropshire Plan’, and ‘targeting capital investment’ – while admitting the council may need to request financial aid from central government and potentially increase public borrowing to avoid issuing a Section 114 notice.

“This is not leadership, it is crisis management by a press release.

“Councillor Evans’s assertion that the previous administration expected to save £60m, despite having depleted reserves, is alarming. But it raises a more pressing question: why was this budget not robustly challenged at the time?

“It is disappointing, though sadly predictable, that the current administration chooses to deflect blame rather than take responsibility. Labelling the previous budget as ‘absurd and ridiculous’ is not only inflammatory, it distracts from the real issue.

“Shropshire residents are tired of excuses. They want transparency, accountability, and value for money and not political point-scoring.

“Reform UK believes in putting local people first. That means cutting waste, protecting essential services, and ensuring every pound spent delivers real benefit to our communities.

“We will not stand by while council leadership blames predecessors and asks for more government handouts without a clear plan to fix the mess.

“If the current cabinet cannot stabilise the council’s finances, Reform UK believes they should step aside. We support the formation of a cross-party emergency oversight committee to guide recovery efforts and ensure transparency.

“Reform UK stands for common-sense politics, fiscal responsibility, and local empowerment. We will not allow Shropshire to be dragged further into crisis by political games and indecision. The time for excuses is over. The time for action is now.”

In response, Councillor Evans said: “The immediate problem is to ensure the council does balance its budget this year, using whatever means we can.

“The budget we inherited is impossible to deliver. If council minutes are consulted, it will be seen that we have voted against the budget being proposed by the previous Conservative administration for several years.

“We walked out of the budget forum meetings that were taking place earlier in 2025 because of what was being proposed.

“I do very much agree the finances of Shropshire Council have been mismanaged for a number of years.

“Since taking control of the council, we have called in the LGA for an in-depth look at how the council did its work. Their report will be discussed on Wednesday.

“Last month, before we knew the state of the finances as set out in the period five report, we resolved and instructed the chief executive to take emergency action and also set up boards to help us deliver a balanced budget for this year.

“I am disappointed in these Reform comments.

“This administration is sharing information and it is not the time to play politics. In May, we started to alter the way our council works and asked different groups to nominate members to take up senior positions helping to run and also scrutinise what our council is doing.

“We are working to deliver a budget for 2026/27 and the following years to undo the damage that has been caused by past administrations. We are changing the way council works.

“We are improving and working with partners to ensure the service that residents of Shropshire get improves and reaches the level that during the next few years we and they want them to be.”