3 August - The Reform v MP spat. Who won?
At the end of June
a row broke out between Reform UK (Bexleyheath and Crayford Branch) and the sitting MP Daniel Francis.
The lads from Reform had attended a Cabinet Committee meeting and came away with
the idea that 10% of Bexley’s budget was gurgling down the BexleyCo drain.
I am not sure why he considered it his job to attempt to ride to the rescue of
Bexley Council but the MP said it was only 5%. Maybe the real motive was to
discredit people who will likely defeat him at the next election.
At the time I was discussing something else with one of the Reform people who
had been at the Cabinet meeting and he asked my opinion of the discrepancy. Council
finances is not something I delve into too deeply because it requires a degree
of expertise which I do not possess; and I guessed that most readers are
similar. I went on to suggest that they did not allow the argument to get out of
hand because few will care now and it will be forgotten by the time the election comes around.
That scourge of Bexley Council, @tonyofsidcup is not so easily deterred. He
thought the MP was wrong and set about proving it. His first act was to ask the
Cabinet Member for Resources, David Leaf, if he could give “a figure for
Bexley’s budget, give or take £50 million”.
He was rewarded with silence and went to the Labour Group Leader instead. Then,
after an interval of more than two weeks @tony received a reply from the Cabinet
Member - along with an apology for the delay.
David suggested that the MP came to his 5% conclusion by referring to the
General Fund which includes Council Tax income. BexleyCo, he said is funded from
the Capital Programme, implying that Reform was more correct with their 10%
figure. He went on to say that although funding is agreed, reviews have led to
rather less being actually handed over.
@tony was not entirely happy and asked again what the ball park budget number
was, alleging that the figure was not included in the Annual Statement of Accounts. @tony put
forward his view that Daniel Francis had failed to understand “basic financial
reporting” and Labour Leader Stefano Borella “was keeping mum”. He asked for a
straight answer “to put Bexley Labour to shame”.
Two weeks later David Leaf had failed to respond. In a cheeky riposte @tony, who
unlike me has some accountancy qualifications, wrote that David is just as big a
failure as the MP and the Labour Group Leader and only Reform UK have any real
understanding of Bexley’s finances and come the election may be a better bet
than the established parties. “Only local Reformists cracked the enigma.”