We spoke with the Conservative Leader of Westminster City Council, Cllr Paul Swaddle, to hear the latest news about the Geoffrey Osborne scandal, which saw Same Old Labour waste £27 million through failure of due diligence. Paul explains
Same Old Labour waste £27 million through failure of due diligence
Labour councillors awarded a major contract to Geoffrey Osborne despite clear, publicly available warning signs that the company was already in financial difficulty.
Any competent council would have stopped and demanded proper scrutiny to understand the full facts before signing off such a decision. Labour did not.
The poor judgement, weak financial oversight and complete mismanagement have ended up costing Westminster taxpayers £27 million.
Labour took the decision, Labour signed it off, and Labour now seeks to blame officers for not spoon-feeding them rather than accepting responsibility for their own actions. This is an administration in office but not in power.
This was not a minor technical failure. It was a serious political decision taken in full view of the risks. Labour had the information available and chose to ignore it.
Labour’s error delayed affordable housing projects started under the Conservatives and cost local people millions of pounds.
This fiasco comes as the Labour government will allow Labour-run Westminster to hike council tax bills by around 27% over the coming years.
Imposing higher taxes on local people to pay for Labour’s financial mismanagement is not fair. It is contempt.
This is the Same Old Labour story: higher taxes, poor value for money and no accountability.
Westminster deserves leadership that shows financial literacy, responsibility and respect for taxpayers. Not playground politics and excuses.
Westminster Conservatives will restore competence at City Council, protect public money and ensure real value for money for local people.
Only Westminster Conservatives will safeguard taxpayers’ hard-earned money and deliver services and projects properly without waste or mismanagement.
Back our call for honesty, responsibility and proper stewardship of public money.
Your response will send a clear message that Westminster expects accountability when serious mistakes are made and that taxpayers should not be left to pay the price for Labour’s mismanagement.
