The sex capital of Lancashire

It’s tough, saving money. That’s why Rachel Reeves doesn’t bother. It’s even tough for recently-elected Reform Party county councillors. But if they can’t manage it, what hope is there for Nigel Farage’s party, let alone the hard-pressed taxpayer?

Reform’s leader in Lancashire, Stephen Atkinson, recently admitted it wasn’t easy and he’s going through the county council’s spending line by line.

If he needs a little help, perhaps we might draw his attention to Blackpool, apparently a den of iniquity judging from the council’s payment of £2.2 million in July to the local NHS for the cost of sexual health clinics.

The council says: ‘Our clinics offer a free and confidential sexual health service to everyone in Lancashire, regardless of your age, gender or sexual orientation. We won't judge or lecture you.’

(I suppose if Reform councillors axed that spending, it would be typical of politicians: here today, gonorrhoea tomorrow).

As with every local authority, Lancashire relies heavily on agency staff, to the tune of at least £1.8 million in July alone. I wonder if anyone would notice if they simply stopped employing temps for a month or two.

Then there’s £4.5 million paid to Edenred in July (when, for the most part, kids were still at school). Edenred provides free meals for kids during school holidays using a voucher and gift-card system.

It might also be worth checking out Whinney Hill landfill site in Accrington where the council spent £4.6 million in July on fees, taxes and dumping rubbish.

The £18 million dished out in grants to eight district councils to improve facilities for the disabled might raise a question or two, along with almost £1 million spent with charity CGL Services dealing with drug misuse in adults and £344,000 paid to support victims of domestic abuse.

Still, for a local authority over-spending by £28 million this year, this may be small beer and I don’t suppose there’s any chance of a reduction on last year’s £1.7 million pay and expenses bill for Lancashire’s county councillors let alone or the £1.4 million they paid their top seven executives.

Anyway, with £1.2 billion of ‘usable’ reserves, what’s there to worry about?