Lib Dems Call for Council Rethink as Budget Begins to Fall-Apart

Sheffield City Council is in hot water after it was revealed that their budget is nowhere near being met. They are projected to overspend by nearly £20 million this financial year, and there are fears local residents will pay the price for the council's incompetence.

If the current overspend continues, it will almost certainly result in the national Government taking over - potentially forcing extreme tax hikes and savage cuts to the services we all rely on.

The Council's overspend has ballooned after the Lib Dem plan for an emergency budget to protect local people was voted down by the Labour-led council.

Mike Levery, Lib Dem Finance Spokesperson said, "The other parties can't keep burying their heads in the sand.

"If we want to protect local people from more hardship, then we must all work together and vote through an emergency budget.

"We have been able to see that the budget set in March is simply not going to work, and contains savings that are realistically not going to happen, such as savings based on the use of buildings that have not even been considered for planning approval yet!”

“We know the Council’s former Labour-Green coalition used £15 million of reserves just to balance this year’s budget, and now we find the council are further £20 million in the red after two months of this financial year. Failure to get spending under control could result in the council going bankrupt.”

Leader of Sheffield Liberal Democrats Shaffaq Mohammed said, “It is unsustainable, unprofessional and unethical to let the Council keep going in its current direction. If the Council goes bust and Government appointed commissioners come in, this could mean extreme cuts and tax rises forced on us by unelected officials. We cannot allow the people of Sheffield to be left in this bleak position, especially with the current cost-of-living crisis.”

“It has also been revealed that some possible savings were not even looked at last year by the Labour-Green coalition when they were running Sheffield!

"We cannot keep going on like this. We need urgent action now."