During a fiery PMQs in Parliament on Wednesday (April 27), Prime Minister Boris Johnson blasted Labour-run Nottingham City Council for investing in what he called a "communist energy company". Discussing the upcoming local elections on May 5, the Prime Minister referenced a number of Labour-run local authorities which have faced financial hardship.
Describing Labour administrations as "bankrupt shambles", he mentioned Nottingham City Council's investment in Robin Hood Energy. That was a failed energy company which lost taxpayers an anticipated £38m when it went into administration in 2020. However, despite the PM's claims of the city council being bankrupt, this is not the case, as confirmed by the city council.
A fresh investigation into Nottingham City Council and Nottingham City Homes accounts has found another £24m worth of Nottingham council housing rents could have been wrongly spent, which comes after the local authority 'unlawfully' spent more than £15m on the wrong services. Mr Johnson's remarks came after Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the Conservative party have had their "heads in the sand" through the cost of living crisis, saying that Labour would "ask oil and gas companies to pay their fair share and reduce energy costs" and urged people to vote Labour in the upcoming local elections.
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In response, Mr Johnson said: "Labour run Nottingham council, bankrupt because of their investment in some communist energy plan, the kind that he (Sir Keir Starmer) favours, and he should apologise for it. Never forget Labour run Britain, in 2010, bankrupt, because of what the Labour Government did, and they said they had no money left.
"Mr Starmer boasts he lives in Islington, or Camden, or somewhere like that; he should contrast neighbouring Westminster which has the lowest council tax in the country, and better services too. That's the difference between Labour and Conservative across the country, so vote for Conservative."
Conservative MP for Newark and Sherwood Mark Spencer, leader of the House of Commons, could be seen nodding his head in agreement with Mr Johnson. Before that, Mr Starmer said: "They're the party of oil and gas profits, and we're the party of working people. They let (energy) prices get out of control, then they denied it was happening.
"They failed to do anything about it, and then they made it worse with higher taxes. Because of his (Mr Johnson's) choices, we're set to have the slowest growth and the highest inflation in the G7."
Nottingham City Council had been the verge of bankruptcy, a Government inspector warned in 2020. Meanwhile, it was reported in December that Robin Hood Energy moved from administration into creditors voluntary liquidation, meaning the directors of the company agreed with shareholders to place the business into liquidation to pay off its debts.
In response, Cllr David Mellen (Lab), leader of the City Council, said: "Once again the Prime Minister is misleading the House of Commons, since he is wrong to suggest Nottingham City Council is bankrupt - we have been bringing down our borrowing levels as part of our ongoing transformation programme and have a balanced financial plan for the next four years.
"Robin Hood Energy, if that's what he was referring to, was a well-intentioned attempt to address the sort of cost of living crisis that everyone is now facing due to soaring energy bills, among other things. In any case, we made an informed decision to cease trading in 2020. Or perhaps he meant EnviroEnergy which turns rubbish into cleaner energy for thousands of local residents?
"I make no apology for leading a council which is aiming to go further and faster towards carbon neutrality and is striving to improve to serve our residents in the best way, despite years of government cuts to our funding which places so many important services at risk."
