GRIM warnings that Woking Borough Council faces a financial meltdown have sparked political exchanges.

The Liberal Democrats, who assumed control of the council following the May elections last year, say the huge level of debt achieved under the previous administration is in danger of overwhelming the authority, warning that WBC is “close to running out of money”.

While they say they have ‘‘narrowly’’ set a budget for the coming financial year, 2023-24, they also argue that making funds available to repay council-company debts makes future annual budgets ‘‘very challenging’’.

The Conservatives, however, see the Lib Dems as part of the problem rather than the architects of any solution.

‘‘You’d think the Liberal Democrats had no councillors until May last year,” said Cllr Ayesha Azad, until recently the leader of the Tories on the council, but now succeeded by Cllr Kevin Davis.

‘‘The council’s financial strategy, based on strategic investment generating income to pay for services, was first established in 2010-11. Loans to the ThamesWey group of companies were established several years before that and indeed the first business plans for that group were put together by the last Lib Dem administration.

‘‘This financial strategy has been agreed cross-party. It was not opposed by the Liberal Democrats until last year, when they sensed that doing so might bring them political advantage.

‘‘In 2021 and 2022, the last Conservative administration reflected the post-COVID and post-Ukraine realities in our budgets, both of which we were quite able to set.

‘‘Since they took over, the Lib Dems have compounded the worsening economic situation by not going ahead with income-generating investments for political reasons and are blaming the resulting problems on everyone else.

‘‘If the borough’s finances have been unsustainable for years, why didn’t the Lib Dems vote against them years ago?’’

A report to the council executive last night points out the borough has financial challenges unlike other local authorities, such as huge loan repayments unsupported by enough income.

Woking borough, it notes, has the highest level of council debt per household in England. Annual debt repayments in excess of £60million are more than five times its revenue from council tax.