Council 'brought back from brink of bankruptcy', leader claims

Debate over Enfield Council’s finances sees Tory leader Alessandro Georgiou champion his administration’s impact since taking office, reports Joe Ives, Local Democracy Reporter

Enfield Council leader Alessandro Georgiou addressing Enfield Civic Centre

Enfield Council has been brought back from the “absolute brink of bankruptcy” according to its new Conservative leadership.

The comments came as part of discussions on the state of the local authority’s finances at a meeting of the full council last night (Wednesday 11th).

Among the topics discussed were a 2025/26 report by the council’s audit committee, now chaired by Conservative councillor Dino Lemonides,

In his introduction to the audit report, Cllr Lemonides said that in 2025/26 the committee had “covered a broad and significant” range of issues, including “schools’ audit coverage, and cyber security controls”.

The overall result, he said, had “supported transparency and public accountability” at the local authority.

“Looking ahead” the audit chair said members would be prioritising “continued oversight of financial reporting” as well delivering on “counter fraud priorities”.

Another aim is improving staff procurement and “contract governance”. This was an issue underlined by Sarah Jons, leader of the Green group on the council.

On Wednesday Cllr Jons, also a member of the recently reshuffled audit committee, said: “The council has faced some serious financial and governance challenges in recent years.

“And while progress has been made, we’ve stepped back from the cliff edge into a slippery ditch […] full of thorns.”

She pointed to “weaknesses” in existing financial controls and procurement, especially in “recruiting and retaining experienced financial staff”, saying the issue represents an ongoing “risk to the council’s ability to manage public money properly”.

“There’s a lot more work that needs to be done to build confidence in the council’s accounts,” the Green group leader said, before adding: “Good governance isn’t just about producing reports; it’s about what changes now because of them.”

Labour councillor Ian Barnes, who previously chaired the audit committee, thanked “councillors across the political divide” who contributed to the progress being made.

The discussion of the report was far more civil than the debate over a treasury management update which came before it – when Conservative and Labour members traded verbal blows over their respective financial records.

Chris Dey praised the measures taken by the Conservative administration in improving the local authority’s finances since coming to power earlier this year. The council, he claimed, “was on the absolute brink of bankruptcy” before the Tories had come in to save the day.

Council leader Alessandro Georgiou said his administration had already taken the civic centre’s debt down by £40m, put capital projects “under control” and had strengthened the local authority’s general reserve and cash investments.

Cllr Georgiou then claimed his administration had brought stability “for the wonderful people of Enfield”. Labour members across the chamber, he said, would be “an electoral irrelevance at the next local elections”.

Former council leader Ergin Erbil, who still heads the Labour opposition, responded by pointing to austerity measures of previous Conservative governments that had “defunded Enfield Council”.

The local authority’s finances were dealt a major boost last December as a result of the government’s Fair Funding Review into council finances across the country. Enfield was awarded a 58% rise in its ‘core spending power’ over the space of three years as a result.

Cllr Erbil argued that, even without this windfall, the fact that previous Labour administrations, including his own, were still able to “provide quality services despite funding cuts speaks volumes”.

“I won’t take any economic lessons from the minions of Liz Truss,” the Labour leader added.

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