THURROCK Council has confirmed that it has officially gone bust.

With debts of more than £1 billion and an operating deficit for the current financial year of several hundred million, the official declaration - which is the submission of a section 114 order to the government - it was only a question of whether it would go in before or after Christmas.

The financial team brought in by the government to support its financial affairs had already drafted a financial report which showed the huge anticipated loss and the fact that that council would be going to the government for capitalisation of its debt and asking for a 30 year loan of around £250 million - to add to the line of credit of more than £680 million the government had previously extended to cover the council's borrowing from other councils and public bodies.

Jonathan Wilson, the council's acting senior finance officer brought in to sort out its catastrophic position, has informed councillors a section 114 notice will be issued ahead of the festive holidays.

The notice means the council will be unable to make any new spending commitments other than for essential and statutory services without going through a newly appointed spending panel.

The council is in the middle of a best value inspection and improvement process by Government appointed commissioners who were brought in after the council lost hundreds of millions of pounds on disastrous investments.

It is probable that more historical losses and failings by the council will be uncovered as the investigation continues.

The likelihood that criminal investigations will subsequently take place is growing as more information is uncovered. It has already been shown that senior officers acted without authority to borrow and then misled councillors.

And it has been suggested that there has been improper action and liaison by at least one senior officer with a company director whose businesses received many tens of millions from the council, which is now irrecoverable.

Mr Wilson said: "This is a grave position. There is a £469 million deficit being reflected for the current year and a further £184million deficit for the subsequent year. That £469million almost entirely relates to investment related balances.

"So a huge figure to reflect on and we've got very limited mitigation. What that means for the council is we will request exceptional financial support from the Government. That conversation is ongoing. We will inevitably issue a section 114 notice and that will be before Christmas."

Despite the horrendous financial situation brought about by the ruling Conservative group's lack of due diligence and caution, there has been a marked lack of contrition from its leading figures with the previous two finance portfolio holders saying little and other senior Tories have underplayed and even defended the catalogue of mistakes.

One of the least contrite has been communities portfolio holder Cllr Qaisar Abbas, whose budget is likely to be decimated with a huge impact on local services and support for residents.

He even chose today (Saturday, 10 December) to post pictures on his social media pages of leading Tories enjoying a Christmas party with glasses of bubbly and lots of apparent festive cheer.

In January, a peer review, where senior councillors from other authorities are brought in to scrutinise a council, highlighted financial problems.

The critical report was kept secret and only recently have its full findings been released has only now been able to scrutinise the report.

It was discussed at this week's meeting of the Corporate Services Overview and Scrutiny committee.

Cllr John Kent, leader of the Labour group, said: "A lot of members gave a lot of time to speak to the team when they were in Thurrock in January.

"There was an interim report, the report that we've got here, that was given to the council in January and yet I was still having to go through the FOI process in June and July to get a copy of this.

"I just don't understand why any local authority would go to the effort to commission a peer review like this and keep it hidden. The fact is if I hadn't brought a resolution asking for this to come before members, we still wouldn't be discussing it now a year on."

Cllr Mark Coxshall, leader of the council, said: "The culture of secrecy here has got to stop and that's what I want to do. It should have come as soon as possible. We shouldn't hide bad news away."