Suffolk: Did county know it would run out of money?

The opposition Green, Liberal Democrat and Independent group said they warned in February that if the council pressed ahead with a below-maximum increase in council tax bills they could be storing up trouble.

The county is now starting to look at its budget for the rest of this year in preparation for working out next year's figures.

It is due to report the financial state of the council at next week's cabinet meeting - and is set to confirm that a £22million black hole has opened up in its finances.

Suffolk County Council's office of Endeavour House (Image: Sarah Lucy Brown)

Opposition leader Andrew Stringer said: "We're not surprised about this at all. This is exactly what we warned them would happen at the start of the year.

"They didn't listen to us because they were so desperate to go into the elections going on about low council taxes - didn't do them much good though."

His group's finance spokeswoman Annette Dunning added: "Some of this shortfall could have been resolved when the Chief Financial Officer urged the Conservatives to raise the council tax to the maximum allowed." 

The deputy leader of the Labour Group, Sandy Martin, was also not surprised by the news: "This is the financial chickens coming home to roost.

"Ever since the cuts were introduced by the first Tory local government secretary after 2010 Eric Pickles, no sector has faced greater cutbacks than local councils.

"His successors have done nothing to reverse that and now we are facing a very serious problem. Councils need to be properly funded."

Announcing the black hole, council deputy leader Richard Rout said: “We set this year’s budget during a period of highly uncertain economic conditions.

"Even although the country is now starting to see price rises slowing and energy costs beginning to drop we are still suffering the cost impacts of various global shocks - in particular Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine."