The leader of Croydon Council’s Labour opposition has offered to work with its majority Conservative leadership to tackle the crisis in the borough caused by its third formal bankruptcy in just over two years

Labour leader Stuart King has also been backed by the council’s sole Liberal Democrat Councillor Claire Bonham, who both say they want to work more constructively in a bipartisan manner because it is what residents would expect. The council is facing massive spending cuts to offset a £1.6bn deficit.

King told Eastlondonlines the bankruptcy was: “A shared problem and a shared problem needs a shared solution”. By “shared problem”, King was referring to “the matter of fact, that [Mayor] Jason Perry and almost every member of his cabinet voted for Labour budgets that contributed to Croydon’s financial problems”. He added: “During a cost of living crisis it’s imperative we work together. It’s what our residents expect us to do”.   

Bonham added: “I’m very supportive of collaborative working … and working with people across the chamber”.

However, King believes that Jason Perry: “hasn’t shown a willingness to reach out or work with other councillors in a time of crisis. That’s what residents expect the parties to do”.

King states that on the day of the third bankruptcy, he was only informed about the imminent Section 114 notice at 9am, an hour before it was formally announced. King claims: “We [the shadow cabinet] were deliberately kept in the dark as late in the day as we could it feels”.“[This] speaks to a political leadership that doesn’t want to be inclusive and doesn’t recognise the legitimate alternative voices in the council”.

He accepts: “That the previous Labour administration made mistakes that contributed to our town’s financial challenges”.

“People who were leading that administration were removed. Labour is now under new leadership and the majority of councillors elected in May [this year] are new. There are other factors. One of them is the handling of the national economy under the Conservatives … Croydon has suffered for 12 years under Tory cuts”.

King proposed: “One solution is for all the parties to unite and demand fair treatment and demand fair treatment of Croydon from the government. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem the Conservatives are willing to step up to the government and challenge the unfairness of the funding system”.

Bonham, elected this year in the Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood ward, echoes many of the points made by King: “I don’t want to go into this blame game scenario. Both the two most recent administrations, both the Tory one and Labour one have added to the debt. It’s better to work together and leave the politics at the door”.

“Some of the problems are self-inflicted but they are also the result of government cuts which make councils take riskier, speculative investments”.   Like King, she believes the Government will eventually need to step in to help Croydon deal with its debt.

Bonham said: “I don’t think there is an alternative other than cuts unfortunately. What we [the Lib Dems] would do is take consultation at the public level. I’m pleased to see the current administration have done that . We would work better with the voluntary sector to soften the blow of cuts”.

At Monday’s Extraordinary Council Meeting to discuss the most recent section 114, King asked Mayor Perry about working “collaboratively and constructively” with opposition parties.

Perry said: “The whole point is we will work constructively and we’ve had discussions. I’m very happy to work, but you need to bring something to the table rather than crocodile tears”.  

The Conservatives under Perry have made fixing Croydon’s finances one of their top priorities. In November, Perry unveiled his business plan to make Croydon a financially stable council over the next four years. It’s currently unclear what the most recent bankruptcy means for this plan.   

Eastlondonlines, approached Croydon Council to comment but no one responded.