The £55m ‘exceptional’ funding allowed the Labour administration to set a balanced budget but opposition Tories say the underlying problems remain unfixed, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

Hendon Town Hall with (inset left) council leader Barry Rawlings and (inset right) opposition group leader Peter Zinkin

Councillors in Barnet have voted to approve the town hall’s 2025/26 budget amid claims the Labour administration was “in denial” about the scale of the problems it’s facing.

Barnet Council leader Barry Rawlings acknowledged last year’s budget setting process was “difficult” but said this year’s was “even harder” following months of frantic efforts to balance the books, including the application for a £55million government bailout.

At a full council meeting last night (Tuesday 4th), Cllr Rawlings said the budget would attempt to address “structural problems” following “decades of funding cuts from successive Conservative governments” and noted the Tory group had not put forward an alternative budget plan.

Amid jeers from opposition councillors, the Labour leader said: “This budget also includes measures to deal with some of the internal problems we inherited from the previous Conservative administration.”

Barnet was led by the Tories until the 2022 local election, when Labour took control.

Conservative group leader Peter Zinkin said in response the budget was “only balanced” because the government had “allowed Barnet to borrow up to £55m”.

In February, the council was granted £55.7m in ‘exceptional financial support’ from the government, which allows the council to temporarily fund revenue shortfalls via borrowing and capital receipts. The bailout has come in addition to £23m of efficiency savings being made to plug the budget gap.

Cllr Zinkin criticised the 4.98% increase in council tax and highlighted the knock-on effect borrowing would have on residents, in the form of fee increases and a reduction of services to cover repayments, as well as worrying that the budget gap would “keep on being there” year-on-year.

The Tory group leader also claimed Cllr Rawlings was “in denial”, saying the “full scale” of the problem faced “was not in the [council] papers” and accused the Labour administration of “squandering” its reserves and having “fantasy” savings.

In response, the newly-appointed cabinet member for finance, Simon Radford, argued the Conservatives were against “every single saving and every single revenue proposal” and asked where their “constructive alternative” was.

Cllr Rawlings also defended the council, saying it was the most “family friendly” borough in London and responsible for a “good” adult and children’s social care rating.

He said a projected £2m improvement in year-end reserves was expected and that agency spend would reduce by 18%.

Cllr Rawlings pointed out that £97m was being invested into roads and pavements and that “more residents” were “satisfied” with street cleanliness “in comparison with the last administration”.

Declaring that Barnet Conservatives had no “vision or plan” and that it was down to the Labour group to “turn the page on Tory chaos”, he said: “There will be tough decisions to make for some time and we will continue to deliver. We are investing now to save in the future.”

Deputy Conservative leader Lucy Wakeley worried about the increases in care arrangement costs, respite care fees, and the council’s management of the government’s Household Support Fund, accusing the Labour group of “using it for running costs”. The fund is intended to support vulnerable households in meeting daily needs.

But deputy leader Ross Houston responded: “The Conservatives refused to make the investments needed to make the council fit to face the challenges that now hit us.

“Top businesses would never outsource strategically important functions, but the Barnet Tories [thought they] knew better.”

Services including planning, highways and environmental health returned in-house in 2023, as part of the council’s long-term plan to return outsourced services from the private sector.

Cllr Houston pointed out the borough had the sixth-lowest council housing stock in London, despite being the second biggest borough by population, and said the Tories had failed “for decades” to invest in housing.

He added the opposition group had previously “committed” the council to projects via its capital programme “with no plan” of how to pay for them.

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