Kendall: Tories must accept responsibility for this financial mess

Liberal Democrat Leader Cllr David Kendall has slammed the Conservative administration running Brentwood Borough Council for the damning report they have received from the Audit Commission and has demanded to know if anyone is going to accept responsibility for the financial mess?

His call follows revelations that the financial mismanagement that has taken place is so serious that the Audit Commission will not sign off the Authority's accounts for 2008/9. It also follows the news that Brentwood has been given a Level 1 for their use of resources which is the lowest of the four grades.

Cllr Kendall believes that the Leader Cllr Louise McKinlay should at least apologise to residents for what has happened and take some responsibility on behalf of her Conservative administration for the mistakes that have happened over the last five years.

Cllr Kendall said:

"The Audit Commissions report is further proof if proof is needed that the Conservatives running Brentwood have totally lost the plot. They have been in control for five years and stumbled from one crisis to another.

"When the Liberal Democrats ran Brentwood from 1991 to 2004 we never had a situation where the Audit Commission wouldn't sign off our accounts. We also often received a "good" rating which is far better than the pathetic Level I we have got at the moment.

"It is time the Tories got a grip of the situation and started to deliver for local residents otherwise their days of running this town will definitely be numbered."