The Long CON: How the Conservatives have suffocated local councils and left you footing the bill

Conservative-run Buckinghamshire Council has voted to increase your council tax by the maximum legal amount of 4.99% — all while cutting vital services and selling off local assets. Unsurprisingly, residents that we’re speaking to on the doorstep are asking the same question: where has all the money gone?

The truth is stark. Since 2015, local councils have suffered brutal cuts to their settlement funding from successive Conservative governments in Westminster. A recent analysis by the House of Commons Library lays bare just how devastating these reductions have been. As a result, your council tax has soared.

Despite the spin, Buckinghamshire Council’s finances are in a perilous state. Council leader Martin Tett is slashing services and selling assets in a desperate attempt to stave off financial collapse. The situation we now face is the inevitable outcome of 14 years of national underinvestment, compounded by poor local leadership from this out of touch Conservative-run council.

This crisis is not an accident. It is the result of a deliberate policy of managed decline. Year after year of underfunding has led to repeated cuts to essential services — from road maintenance to social care — and a steady erosion of quality of life in our towns, villages and communities.

Last year, it was revealed that Buckinghamshire Council is burdened with £300 million in debt. Estimates suggest that £500 million would be needed just to bring our roads up to standard. The numbers don’t lie: the Conservatives have lost control of Buckinghamshire’s finances.

Their election slogan, "Don't hope for an efficient council, vote for one," would be laughable if it weren't so insulting. Efficiency doesn't mean cutting services to the bone and then selling off everything that isn't nailed down. It means competent management, fair investment, and a council that works for its residents—not one that lurches from crisis to crisis.

Buckinghamshire has long been a Conservative stronghold, and the failures we’re now living with are theirs and theirs alone. But change is possible.

On May 1st, voters have a real opportunity to break with the past. Across our county, the Liberal Democrats are the only party that can defeat the Conservatives and deliver the fresh start Buckinghamshire so urgently needs. A fairer, greener, better Bucks is within reach — but only if we vote for it.