DESPITE the abstention of all members of the Labour group – and four votes against including two from within Conservative ranks – Thurrock's Tory-run council has set its budget for 2024-25.

At Wednesday night's meeting (28 February) budget savings of almost £19 million were approved – even through councillors were told the mechanisms to make all the savings had not yet been confirmed.

Presenting his budget, council leader Cllr Andrew Jefferies, said: "The council has had serious financial challenges over the last few years. We've had to make some tough decisions in the budget to secure a viable long-term future for Thurrock.

"We've made great progress in securing the viability of this council when you consider two years ago we were in a place where we did not know if Thurrock would be able to continue as a council.

"It was a hard budget to work on and I want to thank everyone who worked on putting it together.

"By supporting this budget today members are saying yes to securing a future of fiscal responsibility and they are proving they've learnt lessons from the Best Value Inspection and are willing to make the tough decisions decades of different Thurrock administrations showed they were unwilling to make.

"Thurrock has come a long way and this should be applauded."

Cllr John Kent, leader of the Labour Group, said:  "To set a balance budget this evening the cabinet has nodded through a package of savings that come to more than £90million.

"We heard a lot of talk from the leader of the council about securing services for the most vulnerable, protecting the most vulnerable and yet they include cuts that will hit some of the most vulnerable in our community

"Although there is much that we really do strongly oppose in this budget we accept we must do the responsible thing and allow the budget to pass.

"To do anything else would risk turmoil, uncertainty and deeper Government intervention. That's not something we are prepared to do so we shall be abstaining."

Two Conservative councillors, Jack Duffin and Alex Anderson, voted against and have subsequently lost the Tory whip. Independent councillors John Allen and Neil Speight also voted against the budget.

Cllr Speight, spokesperson for independents on the council, said: "It is a fiscal plan created with all the finesse of a battlefield butcher, rather than the precision of a surgeon trying to heal and piece together a wounded patient. 

"It shows little humanity, and it has little strategic value. 

"Of course it's easy to be critical when you're not the one making the decision - so it beholds me to offer some thoughts about what the budget planners could have done. 

"They could have shown vision, talked to prospective stakeholders and investors. To housing associations, for example. They could have laid foundations that would have made an immediate financial implication.

"They could definitely have questioned more. I look every month with ever-increasing anguish at the 'what we spent' online pages.

"I see not just profligacy, but a huge lack of quality control. Buyers of services opt for the cheapest cut, so I go back to my butcher analogy. 

"A good butcher may charge you more at the outset, but what you are served up with will last longer, feed more and end up being much greater value for money." 

Following the meeting, Cllr Jefferies issued a further statement, saying: "This decision will help Thurrock Council continue to ensure that funding is available for vital services, while the council continues on its journey to financial recovery.

"There is no question that this is one of the most difficult budgets Thurrock Council has ever set, it is a responsibility myself and all of my colleagues take extremely seriously. We need to make tough decisions now to secure the future of Thurrock Council.

"We have limited next financial year's increase to 7.99% while focusing on adult social and children's social care to make sure that we protect the most vulnerable members of our community."

Under the new budget a band D property in Thurrock will pay £1,711.62 a year for Thurrock Council services in 2024/25, an increase of £126.45 a year, or £2.43 a week. The final Council Tax bill will include additional precepts from Essex Police and Fire Services, which come to £329.04 on a band D property.

More details about Budget Council can be found at: https://democracy.thurrock.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=134&MId=6352