IN a somewhat bizarre twist to the ongoing rancour and wrangling after the financial collapse of Thurrock Council, two of its senior councillors have now called on their council colleagues to do more to warn them of problems.

For more than two years members of the senior Conservative administration mocked and condemned opposition councillors who repeatedly warned them over concerns and projected problems arising from its 'borrow to invest policy'.

And the media, which also repeatedly highlighted the problems and has produced dozens of reports also highted the issue over the past two years.

Fears were first brokered in a Thurrock Nub News exclusive in January 2020. Since then the issues have been aired innumerable times inside and outside the council chamber – with senior Tories quizzed repeatedly.

The measure of the concern and requested for more information are encapsulated in this Thurrock Nub News report from May 2020 – when the council issued a rebuttal in the face of opposition and media concerns.

The reports and questions have continued relentlessly since – virtually all met with a stonewall defence and denial from senior Conservatives, including this address from then finance portfolio holder Cllr Shane Hebb in December 2021 when he specifically said opposition councillors had been engaged in the process.

Cllr Hebb said: "The investment strategy was universally backed by all the councillors in the chamber.

"Thurrock finances are in better hands under this Conservative council versus the mess that Labour left. There remains now just £4 million against a £34 million plus gap to close."

His words look incredibly hollow today but the Conservative bravado appears to remain ingrained.

At last week's cabinet meeting a Local Government Association peer review carried out last January but left unpublished by the council until the autumn, was finally discussed by members.

The administration called for back bench councillors on overview and scrutiny committees to ask more questions about cabinet decisions.

Current council leader Cllr Mark Coxshall said: "You can take a horse to water but you can't make it drink. I keep pleading that they will get involved. We need opposition challenge to guide good decisions. We want challenge and to see members come here to challenge our decisions.

"I don't want to hear just "yes" people."

And the portfolio holder for central services, Cllr Jack Duffin, added: "It's a sad indictment. Back benchers should have a role and we should have a role in checking and balancing as well but it's needing opposition to step up to the plate. For so long it was a tick box exercise. They treated these committees that way."

Speaking after the meeting, John Kent, leader of the Labour Group, said opposition councillors had asked many questions but received no response.

He said: "There have, clearly, been massive failures of governance that have led to the crisis at Thurrock Council.

"Over the past few years, we have been consistently fobbed off, misled and lied to whilst Thurrock Conservatives spent three years – and £70,000 of tax payers money – fighting through the courts to keep as much detail of their dodgy deals secret.

"You simply can't have a properly functioning democracy without honesty, openness and transparency – governments and councils need to be held to account and that just can't be properly done within a culture of secrecy, such as that overseen by Thurrock Conservatives.

"If we believe what senior Conservative councillors now claim – that they knew little or nothing about the details of these deals – then it's pretty clear that greater openness and transparency may well have helped prevent the catastrophic situation that Thurrock finds itself in today."