Labour politicians have raised fears that Westminster Council could be in “crisis” after shedding millions of pounds whilst dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.

Councils across the country have suffered huge losses of revenue from parking, housing rents, business rates and hosting events.

They have also spent millions on helping and feeding vulnerable people while protecting their own staff.

Over the river from Westminster, Lambeth Council expects to be £45 million down by the end of year. Liverpool Council said in late April it was close to being “bankrupt”.

Labour councillors in Westminster have accused the Conservative-run authority of so far refusing to publish up-to-date information about its finances. This is despite the fact that the Government has been demanding such information from UK councils on a monthly basis.

An important revenue stream for Westminster is fees and fines from car parking, from which it made a £69 million profit in 2018/19. During the lockdown, the council has given free parking to NHS staff and key workers.

At a Policy and Scrutiny meeting held over Zoom on May 21, Labour group leader, councillor Adam Hug, said he had been requesting the information since April, but had received nothing, even “on a confidential basis”.

Westminster's opposition Labour group leader, councillor Adam Hug
Westminster's opposition Labour group leader, councillor Adam Hug

In response, deputy leader and cabinet member for finance, Melvyn Caplan, suggested that he also didn’t know the figures, because the information was not available to him.

“Certainly I’m not in a public meeting about to hand over those figures,” Mr Caplan said. “But what I can tell you is that I don’t get those documents either. That’s not something I receive. Obviously I have good information as to what is going on in the council, but that is not information that’s shared with me either.”

He went on to say that the information about the council’s finances will be made available in June.

After the meeting, Mr Hug said: “Either Westminster Conservatives are arrogant enough to think they are above scrutiny and that everyone else has to take their decision making at this time of crisis simply on trust, or they are hiding the true scale of the crisis facing the council’s finances.”

A council spokesperson said: “As usual, all council expenditure will be publicly accounted for as part of the authority’s long established regular financial reporting cycle.”

To help councils stay afloat during the lockdown, the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government issued grants in March and April. Westminster has received about £16.5 million. However many councils across the country have said the added funding has not been enough, or fear they won't be able to recoup money spent from the Government.

If you have a story from Westminster, please email our reporter: owen.sheppard@reachplc.com