Peterborough Labour leader ‘misleading residents’ over money claims - cabinet member for finance

The comments from the Labour leader, Councillor Shaz Nawaz, will have seriously misled residents.

Cllr Nawaz stated that borrowing money from other local authorities “makes no sense whatsoever”.

It does, if that money is borrowed at lower rates than available from Government - the ‘Public Works Loan Board’.

It would be madness for the council not to secure the best interest rate. Liken it to your own need for a loan to purchase a car, would you go to a bank that charges a high interest rate if you had a relative offering the money you need for a lower rate?

Borrowing money from other local authorities also makes sense if you then lend that money to others to generate a profit for taxpayers. If we took the advice of Cllr Nawaz we would have lost, in recent years, nearly £3m in extra income that has been used to support vital services.

As a member of the Council Audit Committee, I would have hoped that he understood these basic points, or would have raised them at Committee so they could be explained.

It is also a practise of nearly all Councils that has been in place for over 100 years.

On the opposing page you quote Cllr Nawaz as criticising expenditure on external expertise that has been used to challenge the efficiency of the Council.

Cllr Nawaz raised no such concerns when he was briefed on this plan some months ago. Indeed when it was raised at Audit Committee, Councillor Nawaz himself suggested that we use our existing auditors to do the work.

A senior Council officer advised that such an action would create a clear ‘conflict of interest’.

False claims and statements have appeared on a regular basis since Cllr Nawaz was elected. I hope the point has been made and residents will ‘read with caution’.

Councillor David Seaton

Cabinet Member for Finance

Ward Councillor, Hampton Vale