‘They squandered it’ – Reform attacked over Durham finances

It comes after the authority warned it faces an £83.7 million funding gap and may need four years of near-maximum council tax rises, job losses and wider use of artificial intelligence to balance the books.

Cabinet members were told on Wednesday (September 16) that the council faces mounting financial pressures over the next four years, driven by rising demand for services including social care, school transport and waste collection.

Officers have identified £21.5m of savings through a transformation programme that includes digitising services, cutting office costs and making greater use of technology and AI.

Around 18 jobs could also be lost under the proposals.

Council forecasts show a funding shortfall of £83.7m by 2030 before savings and council tax increases are taken into account, including a £23.3m gap next year.

Reform’s deputy leader and finance chief Darren Grimes told councillors that the authority would maintain a “laser-like focus” on stripping out waste and avoidable costs, while leader Andrew Husband insisted Durham remained in a stronger financial position than many councils across the country.

(Image: NORTHERN ECHO)

However, Labour MP Luke Akehurst said Reform should accept responsibility for some of the challenge now facing County Hall.

The North Durham MP said: “As a local MP I will always put the case to Ministers for more funding for Durham County Council, so that all the costs of delivering public services in an area that has both deprivation and rurality to tackle are properly reflected in the funding formula.

“However, Reform ought to acknowledge that Durham received a very generous funding settlement last year – a real terms increase of 6.7 per cent.

“They made a political choice to use some of this to keep down the annual increase in Council Tax, rather than invest it in services, and their own choice to do this has widened the funding gap they now face.”

(Image: CHRIS BOOTH)

Cllr Amanda Hopgood, leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition on Durham County Council, said many of the transformation plans now being promoted by Reform had already been under development before the party took control of the authority.

She said: “The transformation strategy had already been discussed before Reform was elected.

“We fully support the transformation plan for local government but Reform talk a lot about virtue signalling and their obsession with trying to deliver zero council tax rises – we are seeing the consequences of now.

“They set a budget this year knowing that they were creating a future black hole.

“They pleaded for more money from the government, now they’ve got it and they squandered it.”

Durham County Council opposition leader Amanda Hopgood said Reform ‘squandered’ government money. (Image: DURHAM COUNTY COUNCIL)

The budget debate comes at a difficult political moment for Reform’s administration.

Three councillors, Lyndsey Fox, Nicole Brown and Paul Sexton, resigned from the party this week and now sit as independents, reducing Reform’s majority on the 98-seat council to just three.

The departures are the latest in a series of resignations, suspensions and defections since Reform swept to power in the 2025 local elections, winning 65 seats and taking control of the authority for the first time.

Cabinet members are expected to begin consulting residents on the council’s financial plans later this month, with final budget decisions due to be taken in February.

The consultation will include proposals for annual council tax increases of up to 4.99 per cent, which officers say would broadly eliminate the authority’s funding gap over the four-year planning period if combined with the planned savings programme.