THE SCANDAL OF LONDON COUNCILS' SPENDING BLACK HOLES

Are boroughs squandering their budgets? Lee Nallalingham spent a year investigating and found not only profligacy, but also that many have no idea where the money goes

- Lee Nallalingham

For most of my adult life, I was a spectator to politics rather than a participant. I rarely paid attention to what happened in Westminster — the differences between political parties felt marginal, the outcomes largely the same. That all changed in 2023 when I moved back home to London after spending a few years working in Singapore. There, taxes are lower yet everything runs smoothly. Back home in London, I was paying much more tax and getting a lot less. Missed bins. Crumbling roads. Endless strikes. Hardly world-class public services, as my Japanese wife, who I met in Singapore, regularly reminded me.

So when I found out in February last year that my council tax was going up again, I decided to go along to a council meeting for the first time in my life. I went to the budget meeting, expecting a clear explanation for why bills were rising and what residents were getting in return. I didn't get one.

Misleading the public

I discovered my council, Tower Hamlets, brings in roughly £100 million a year in council tax. The five per cent rise in council tax was sold as necessary and unavoidable, yet it only raises around £5 million. In the context of a council planning to spend well over a billion pounds across the next few years, that's peanuts.

I work in financial consulting, looking at how teams, departments and processes operate, and find ways to deliver better results for less money. You do this by cutting waste, improving productivity and simplifying how things are done. That balance is achieved every day in the private sector. Yet in local government, we're repeatedly told it can't be done.

And if you're trying to find a few million in a large organisation, you start with discretionary spending and outsourcing. Consultants. Lawyers. Professional services. Recruitment agencies. Contractors. Marketing.