Southwark’s next budget was voted through during a lively meeting of the full council on Wednesday (25 February).
The budget – unveiled by Cllr Stephanie Cryan earlier this month – sets out how the local authority will balance the books for the next 12 months amid a looming £80 million financial black hole over the next three years, caused by the changes made by the current government to how councils are funded across the country.
The budget for 2026/27 by the ruling Labour administration at Southwark was passed during the annual budget-setting meeting, with 43 councillors voting in favour and 14 abstaining.
Cllr Cryan set a three-year budget in 2024/25, so this year’s spending review contained no additional commitments beyond those announced three years ago, but critically with no cuts to frontline services.
Instead, it set out how the local authority will ensure the Housing Revenue Account and general fund remain robust – including plans to sell off some council assets and make efficiency savings, which Cllr Cryan told the News could save around £10 million as a lower end estimate.
Introducing the spending review, Cllr Cryan praised the certainty offered by the three-year government funding settlement, which she said will “allow us to strategically plan ahead”, and defended the fair funding reforms as “the right principle.”
She heaped praise on the council’s investment in housebuilding, housing repairs and its community safety teams.
However, Southwark’s Liberal Democrat opposition leader Victor Chamberlain suggested the Labour Party was reluctant to criticise its own government for the funding reforms, stating: “Three years ago, after the Conservative government’s funding settlement, this council passed a motion calling for a general election.
“One has to wonder whether the Labour Group feels the same way now.”
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The Liberal Democrats proceeded to present their own amendment to the budget – which was later voted down – proposing a one-off council tax reduction for poorer residents and more community wardens, to be partly funded through efficiency savings and renting out more council-owned buildings.
The Greens later also presented their own budget amendment, proposing free bus travel for under-22s.
The amendment, proposed by Cllr James McAsh and seconded by Cllr Reginald Popoola, called for “a one-year targeted pilot scheme providing free bus travel for at least 1,000 Southwark residents aged 19–21.”
Richard Leeming, a Labour councillor for Dulwich Village ward, then compared the budget proposals presented by the opposition Liberal Democrats and the Greens to the Bridge Theatre’s production of Into the Woods – a musical adaptation of the Brothers Grimm fairytales.
He said: “As I enjoyed the orchestration and the singing, something was nagging. I couldn’t work out what it was until I realised that the fairy stories reminded me of the Green and Liberal Democrat budget proposals.
“The Green Party budget proposals only work if you have a goose that continues to lay golden eggs.
“The Liberal Democrats are like the ugly sisters; too lazy to do the hard work, so frantically lopping off bits of their anatomy to try and squeeze into the golden slipper so the prince – or in this case, the Southwark electorate – will fall in love with them.”
Later on, Cllr Richard Livingstone, who represents Old Kent Road ward, initiated a game of ‘Council Tax: Play your cards right” facetiously inviting councillors to guess whether Southwark’s council tax was higher or lower than that of several Liberal Democrat local authorities and Green-controlled Bristol City Council.
He was scolded by Liberal Democrat councillor Jane Salmon, who said: “This is not a way for a council to behave. That was immature.”
Defending the budget, Cllr David Parton, who represents Rye Lane ward, praised the council’s recent investment of “£4.8 million in cost-of-living support this winter alone, building on more than £53 million of support delivered since 2022.”
However the Leader of the Southwark Greens Sam Foster said the principles of the fair funding review were “not right.”
“There is a lot of deprivation in Southwark,” he said. “Therefore, it is not fair in any sense to take money out of Southwark where it is desperately needed. The principle should be that need is addressed wherever it is,” adding that “local government should receive more funding across the board.”
Commenting after the budget meeting, Cllr Victor Chamberlain said: “Labour’s actions last night were those of a desperate political party who know the writing is on the wall for them in May.
“They’re more interested in playing political games than delivering on residents’ priorities. Our alternative budget – which they slapped down as they do every year – would have delivered on those priorities of crime, the cost of living, and improving council services.”
