Speaking after the release of the Draft Budget for 2026 to 2027 and the latest monitoring of the Budget for 2025 to 2026, Councillor George Perfect, Leader of the Opposition and Medway Conservatives Leader, said:
"The draft budget for the next financial year show only two things: higher charges and more borrowing. In addition to the £18m already borrowed for this financial year, the Council is now seeking to borrow another £10m on top just to pay day to day spending up until the end of March. Then the Council will borrow another £10m to fund next year's Budget. This is all unsustainable and will all have to be paid back by the residents of North Kent following local government reorganisation.
At the heart of the problem though is the failure of the Labour Government's fairer funding review to deliver what people of Medway deserve - which is greater funding from central government. The fairer funding review was around £8m less than Medway Council officers anticipated in the draft budget presented to Cabinet on 18th November. This coupled with £3.5m worth of extra debt payments brought about by the government's poor management of the economy leading to higher interest rates and additional borrowing by the Leader of the Council for vanity projects, has left the Council in a serious financial state.
As an opposition, we will set out an alternative budget and a different vision later this month at Budget Council - because it is what the people of Medway deserve."
ENDS
For comment, Leader of the Opposition's Office: [email protected] or 01634 332515.
