Labour councillors on Wandsworth Council have voted to borrow over £450 million. Wandsworth’s debt would otherwise be ZERO.
The cost of debt means that everyone will pay more. Residents will be paying the interest for 50 years. It means higher taxes, higher charges for everyday things like parking permits and higher rents for council tenants.
By stretching the loans over 50 years, Wandsworth Council will end up paying more in interest than it borrows. At current rates, the total cost of borrowing is likely to be over a billion pounds. Each year millions will need to be paid by taxpayers and council tenants. Labour has already hit the poorest in our community by increasing council tenant rents by 15.3% in their first two years to help pay for this. Under the Conservatives across 2018-2022 rents were cut for three years and then frozen.
When questioned by Local Conservatives on these borrowing plans and eye watering levels of interest repayment, a Labour Councillor responded with:
“is this really something to be worried about?”
You only need to look at the likes of Birmingham City Council and Croydon Borough Council to see how worrying this level of borrowing is, which equates to £2937 per household.
We are all about to pay for Labour’s £450 million of borrowing.
