An “alternative budget” by the opposition to counter Barnet Council’s was blasted as “bungling” by council leadership.

The proposal, put forward by Barnet Labour a Tuesday night’s (Mar 7) council meeting, sought to save over £2 million by making cuts in areas including senior management and agency staff.

Members of the controlling Conservative group blasted the proposal as proof Labour are “unfit to govern” the borough due to claims it did not “add up”.

One policy the Tory group highlighted was Labour’s calculation they could save £334,000 by getting rid of the commissioning directors for Children & Young People and Adults & Health.

The Conservatives claimed the issuing of redundancies and notice payments would in themselves cost £213,254 – using up 64 per cent of Labour’s calculated savings already.

Leader of the council Cllr Richard Cornelius said: “The last time Labour were in control of Barnet Council, they squandered the reserves and almost bankrupted the borough.

“The ‘black holes’ in their latest budget show, 15 years on, they still can’t be trusted with the till.

“The Conservative budget, on the other hand, has continued to protect frontline services by making the borough more efficient, so we can do more with less, while also getting our sums right.”

With the space Labour claims their budget creates, they proposed to fund various initiatives currently being hit by cuts in the Tories’ own budget.

This included reversing reductions in street cleaning, extending staffed library services and building 800 news council homes to be rents at 50 per cent of market rates.

Labour group leader Cllr Barry Rawlings said: “Our alternative budget was validated by the council's most senior finance officer who also validated the Tory budget, so this barb from Cllr Cornelius is a bit desperate.

“He is clearly very worried about losing control of the council to us in the local elections next year, and given his record in office you can see why.”