A Conservative councillor has accused Labour councillors and senior council officers of blocking proper examination and full openness of the council’s finances at the audit and corporate governance committee.

At the last two meetings of the committee, the Tories say the Conservative representative has ‘faced various obstacles’ in seeking to ensure the committee fulfils its important role.

They say these have included the council’s deputy chief executive temporarily walking out of the February meeting thereby ‘curtailing debate on the council’s dubious and apparently failing £10m investment in the Mailbox building in Birmingham’, Labour and Liberal Democrat councillors ‘blocking’ a proposed Conservative amendment to the minutes of the February meeting seeking to properly reflect these events which meant that the minutes of the February meeting ‘were approved despite incorrectly stating’ that the committee noted a report on the Mailbox investment ‘which it did not’, Labour and senior officers ‘respectively preventing and resisting debate’ on the Mailbox investment at the next meeting in April, and Labour councillors ‘preventing’ detailed Conservative questions on the council’s treasury management practices.

Cllr Mark Jervis was the Conservative representative at the March meeting of the committee.

He said: “I was truly shocked by the events at the meeting. The council is a significant outlier amongst local authorities in England with £1.8 billion of council debt, nearly 6 years of accounts yet to be signed off by the External Auditor and a number of failed and dubious investments such as Together Energy, Redwood Bank, Altana Corporate Bond and Mailbox.

“Over the last few years, we have seen the Council Leadership resist Conservative calls to learn the lessons from its investment failures. It is therefore a real concern for every resident in Warrington that Labour and Senior Officers appear to want to limit proper and timely oversight of their financial and governance decisions at the very committee established to provide proper checks and balances.

“I was further dismayed when Labour and the Liberal Democrat representative failed to ensure the Minutes provided an accurate record of the Mailbox related events at the February 2024 Audit and Corporate Governance Committee meeting. Too often Liberal Democrats provide no effective challenge or opposition to Labour.

“Overall, my experience at the March Audit Committee meeting leaves me wondering what the Labour run administration want to hide when they so blatantly obstruct and resist timely and open challenge of their financial and governance decisions.”

Labour’s Cllr Denis Matthews, the council’s cabinet member for corporate finance, has issued a statement in response.

He said: “The Labour administration continue to be committed to the open and transparent conduct of our town’s finances, and the council’s 2024/25 Treasury Management Strategy was agreed by the Audit & Corporate Governance Committee (A&CGC) and Full Council in February 2024.

“It is a matter for individual members of the A&CGC as to whether they support the recommendations put forward by Conservative members after considering the merits of their proposals. Conservative members are obviously free to propose, make comment, and ask questions but that does not mean others are obligated to agree. Minutes of a meeting are agreed by a majority decision of the committee, and are a broad reflection of decisions made rather than a word for word transcript of the debate. These meetings are open to the public, and the agenda and reports to be considered are published on the WBC website for all to view.

“I am always happy to speak with Cllr Jervis should he have positive ideas that he feels would be to the benefit of the residents of Warrington.

“I understand that we have entered an election period, but it is my opinion that the people of Warrington expect all councillors to seek to genuinely work together to deliver positive good on their behalf.”