Labour has set up £6.2 Million ‘slush fund’ says Liberal Democrat councillor Sid Rutstein.

The new Labour administration of Luton Council inherited a very healthy £6.2 million budget surplus thanks to the sensible financial management of the Liberal Democrats. This provides them with an ideal opportunity to commence work on the many and varied commitments they have made.

Liberal Democrat councillor Sid Rutstein said, “Instead they have hidden the money away in a series of ‘reserve’ funds which will make it much harder for anyone to find out where the money ends up being spent or what benefit it brings the town.”

“For instance, their commitment to build a new 50 metre swimming pool could be given a very substantial boost by ring fencing some of this money towards funding the project.”

“Why are they being so secretive? Don’t they want Luton Council Tax payers to know how their money is being spent? When they choose to bury the whole of the surplus in slush funds and not to commit any money to the swimming pool or any other project. The only practical conclusion we can draw is that either they have no intention of honouring the commitments they have made or they do not know how to.”

Liberal Democrat councillors challenged Labour to explain their decision and it is reasonable to say that their response was completely incoherent. However, this did not stop the Labour controlled scrutiny committee from ‘rubber stamping’ the decision.

Labour members of the Performance, Resources & Assets Scrutiny Committee voted to confirm the action of the Labour Executive at the scrutiny committee meeting on Wednesday 4th July.