'We may need two years to sort out mess Tories left'

TESTY squabbles over council tax, budget cuts and staff pay ran rife at a heated Derbyshire County Council meeting.

- By EDDIE BISKNELL

Ata county council scrutiny meeting on Wednesday, councillors and officers clashed over ways to cut costs at the authority, which bears a £838 million budget.

The meeting was to assess the £22.4million savings plans which the council aims to carry out over the next year, alongside an overall £37m shortfall, which is currently set to grow to £66 million by 2030.

During the meeting, Cllr John Lawson, Reform UK’s cabinet member for council efficiency, criticised the previous Conservative administration for “putting council tax up by way less than the maximum”.

He said while he would support a less than a maximum increase, “how much less than the maximum has led to three years worth of council tax increases lost” and an inability to “balance the books” and “run the council effectively”.

Cllr Lawson asked Cllr Wayne Major, Conservative deputy group leader, if he would make the same decisions regarding the council tax now, to which he said: “Absolutely, that is thousands of pounds that has been kept in people's pockets”.

Reform had campaigned on a pledge to reduce council tax, and not increase it, but is now set to approve a maximum 4.99 percent increase.