Further horrors have emerged in Croydon Council’s finances as the true picture of Labour’s toxic legacy became clear in a recent “opening the books” exercise.

In addition to doubling the Council’s debt to a staggering £1.6 billion - which costs around £50 million a year to service - it has now emerged that:

Labour overestimated parking income by £10 million per year, leaving an ongoing black hole in the finances
Labour sold £73 million of council property and quickly spent the money. However, they got the accounting wrong and now £9 million must be repaid
Labour claimed that the refurbishment of Fairfield Halls would come at zero cost to the taxpayer. However, it was so badly managed that the project has cost the taxpayer £70 million – and the roof still leaks
Substantial losses have now been crystallised in Labour’s Brick by Brick developer, into which they pumped £200 million of our money
Labour made numerous accounting and spending errors over time that have now come to light and need to be paid for

As a result of these historic issues, the Council has been forced to issue a Section 114 Notice, meaning that it will be impossible to set a balanced budget next year.