H&F's Tory Opposition Leader Demonstrating How He Doesn't Understand The Difference Between One Off Capital Receipts And An Annual Revenue Budget

In 2014, shortly after winning control of H&F Council, Cllr Andrew Jones (Lab) and Council Leader Cllr Stephen Cowan (Lab) went back over all the open property deals the Conservatives had closed with property speculators. They re-negotiated them and came away with a staggering £52.25 millions more for local residents. This money is classified as a one off capital receipt. Meanwhile, the newly elected Labour administration also inherited a £71 million annual budget cap in the Council's revenue and expenditure account. That sum is the amount of money the council would have to find on an annual basis to balance its budget in the last year of its four year term. This £71 million is a revenue budget gap which means that money and more needs to be found to balance the budget in year 4 and each year afterwards. It cannot be fixed (in part) with a one off payment from the capital account.. In this recording you can hear Cllr Greg Smith (Con), Hammersmith and Fulham's Conservative Opposition Leader, demonstrating how he really doesn't understand that. And going by the cheers from his fellow Conservative councilors, they don't either.