McDonnell calls for check on council loans that will ‘waste £16bn’
This is something which definitely needs tackling. The article tells us…
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has called for a government investigation into the use of high-cost bank loans after a new report found local councils stand to waste up to £16bn on interest payments over the next 40 years.
Figures compiled by investigative cooperative Research for Action show that local governments which were saddled with complex borrowing schemes in the early 2000s could see annual interest payments halved if those debts were paid off with cash borrowed from the government’s Public Works Loan Board (PWLB).
The report explains that the top 10 council borrowers of lender option borrower option loans – knows as Lobos – stand to save as much as £4bn over the next four decades, while the 240 councils with high interest lobo loans could collectively save up to £16n.
McDonnell is now calling for government action: “The government has a role to play now in ensuring there is a full, independent and open investigation into the use of these financial instruments and action taken to restore any historic loss to the public purse