Conservatives demand accountability after Labour Council waste £27 million on housing contractor failure
At tonight's heated council meeting, Cllr Paul Fisher (Conservative) exposed Labour’s failure to safeguard taxpayers after £27 million was wasted contracting a financially unstable company.
Despite evidence that Geoffrey Osborne Ltd was in dire financial trouble months before the deal, Labour pressed ahead without proper due diligence. In Same Old Labour fashion, they now blame everyone but themselves.
Cllr Fisher demanded transparency, asking why Labour ignored internal warnings and failed to protect public funds. Westminster Conservatives have called for a full investigation to ensure this level of financial mismanagement never happens again.
Watch Cllr Fisher hold Labour to account and read the transcript below.
Cllr Paul Fisher (Conservative):
£27 million has been wasted because the Council contracted with a company that was on the verge of insolvency. The cabinet member has had to defend this publicly.
My question is: did her predecessor and Councillor Boothroyd have all the relevant information available to them when they entered into the contract with Geoffrey Osborne in September 2022?
Cllr Ellie Ormsby (Labour):
Let me set some context. The Labour Administration inherited challenging schemes from the previous Conservative administration. Despite this, thanks to the resilience and collaboration of our team and new contractor, we will shortly deliver 64 new housing units.
This attack is an attempt to undermine our record as a leading builder of council homes. Westminster Labour is now the fifth biggest builder of council homes in the country, and we will not let the Conservative opposition hold us back.
Before I answer your question directly, I’d like to point out that throughout this period, you, Councillor Fisher, chaired the Budget Scrutiny Task Group, the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, and the Housing & Regeneration Policy Committee. At no point did you raise concerns or call in this decision, despite now claiming that the problems were foreseeable. This is a classic case of “Captain Hindsight.”
Now, to the facts.
- In 2018, under the previous Conservative administration, the strategic outline case for the scheme was approved.
- In 2020, again under that administration, the contractual relationship with Geoffrey Osborne was initiated.
- In September 2021, red flags were raised about a change in Osborne’s financial risk profile, which was noted by the Conservative cabinet member at the time — yet there was no move to end the relationship.
Following the 2022 local elections — when the Conservatives lost control of the council — my predecessor, Cllr Noble, continued along the trajectory already set by the Conservatives and awarded the main contract to Geoffrey Osborne. At that point, Osborne’s credit rating had recovered.
In April 2024, however, Osborne went into administration. As the company itself stated, this was caused in part by market instability after the Liz Truss mini-budget. The Council acted swiftly to secure the sites, and by October we had appointed a new contractor to complete the work.
While any wasted money is disappointing, the Conservatives were the architects of this problem, and they should accept responsibility.
Cllr Paul Fisher (Conservative):
That is, frankly, laughable. Cabinet members seem unwilling to take responsibility. You claim this was all down to the Liz Truss mini‑budget, which happened months after the September 2022 contract. Public information from Geoffrey Osborne’s own finance director showed the company was already in serious financial trouble at that time.
So the situation is clear: either not all relevant information was available when the decision was taken, or it was — and you took the wrong decision.
Assuming your argument is that the information wasn’t available, what concrete steps are you taking to find out why your predecessor didn’t see the internal memo from February 2022 that flagged these concerns?
Cllr Ellie Ormsby (Labour):
We’ve taken several steps and this will all be reviewed in detail by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. Unfortunately, that internal memo was not shared with Cllr Noble at the time because, by then, Geoffrey Osborne’s credit rating had recovered. We will continue to investigate the circumstances to ensure full transparency.
The facts are simple. Labour signed off the appointment of Geoffrey Osborne. They failed to do proper due diligence. And their failure has left taxpayers facing £27 million in clean up costs.
In classic Same Old Labour fashion, they refuse to take responsibility. They never learn, blaming everyone but themselves in an embarrassing display of playground politics.
Westminster deserves leadership that treats public money with respect.
Westminster Conservatives will restore financial competence, value for money and delivering on the priorities of local people: safe streets, a clean city and real action.
