Cash-strapped local authorities across the UK took out massive 50-year loans at soaring rates of interest in the aftermath of Liz Truss’s catastrophic mini-budget, according to official figures that reveal more about the long-term cost to the public of her 49 days in office.
Figures from the government’s Debt Management Office show that after the budget on 23 September, 2022, announced by Truss’s chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, 24 50-year loans of between £590,000 and £40m were taken out by councils at interest rates of up to 4.77 %, over the rest of that year.
The way councils have been pressured by successive Tory governments to take on more debt and to adopt risky strategies to get by will be highlighted this week in a speech by shadow levelling up secretary Angela Rayner.
Rayner will argue that Tory ministers have not only slashed funding but have failed to supervise it, ending oversight of local council spending and scrapping the Audit Commission.
She will also pledge to restore a functioning system for auditing local government finances, after it was revealed that 99% of English councils had not had financial accounts approved on time this year.
Local government leaders are fighting to deliver vital services against the tide of a Tory economic mismanagement as demand surges amid the worst cost of living crisis in a generation.
The original article contains 613 words, the summary contains 220 words. Saved 64%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Cash-strapped local authorities across the UK took out massive 50-year loans at soaring rates of interest in the aftermath of Liz Truss’s catastrophic mini-budget, according to official figures that reveal more about the long-term cost to the public of her 49 days in office.
Figures from the government’s Debt Management Office show that after the budget on 23 September, 2022, announced by Truss’s chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, 24 50-year loans of between £590,000 and £40m were taken out by councils at interest rates of up to 4.77 %, over the rest of that year.
The way councils have been pressured by successive Tory governments to take on more debt and to adopt risky strategies to get by will be highlighted this week in a speech by shadow levelling up secretary Angela Rayner.
Rayner will argue that Tory ministers have not only slashed funding but have failed to supervise it, ending oversight of local council spending and scrapping the Audit Commission.
She will also pledge to restore a functioning system for auditing local government finances, after it was revealed that 99% of English councils had not had financial accounts approved on time this year.
Local government leaders are fighting to deliver vital services against the tide of a Tory economic mismanagement as demand surges amid the worst cost of living crisis in a generation.
The original article contains 613 words, the summary contains 220 words. Saved 64%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!