The leaders of Barnet are in a heated argument over the borough getting worse financial position. A £25 million overspend means that public services could be cut significantly. The dispute started right before a very important cabinet meeting during which the matter will be discussed.
Barnet的領導層因行政區財政狀況惡化而爆發激烈爭論。由於超支2500萬英鎊，公共服務可能將面臨大幅削減。這場爭議正好在一次重要的內閣會議前爆發，該會議將專門討論此問題。
Conservative Leader Accuses Labour Of Mismanagement –保守黨領袖指責工黨管理不善
Peter Zinkin, the leader of the Conservative group, blames the Labour government which has been in charge of Barnet since 2022. He says Labour’s “breathtaking financial mismanagement” is to blame.
保守黨團領袖Peter Zinkin指責自2022年起掌管Barnet的工黨政府，稱其「令人瞠目的財務管理失誤」是導致目前困境的原因。
Cllr Zinkin says that harsh actions may need to be taken now. “In other words, we’re talking about a possible ‘decimation’ of staff,” he told Barnet Post. “One out of every ten employees will be let go.”
Zinkin議員表示，現在可能需要採取嚴厲措施。「換句話說，我們正在談論可能要『大幅裁員』，」他向《Barnet Post》表示。「每十名員工中就可能有一人被解雇。」
He says that Labour has been careless with the council money. “When Labour took over they first removed the finance scrutiny committee. This gave the council leader full financial responsibility for all his other duties.”
他認為工黨在使用市議會資金上非常粗心。「工黨上台後首先取消了財政監察委員會，將所有財務責任集中到市議會領袖一人身上。」
Cllr Zinkin also said bad things about Labour’s choice of finance head. “They didn’t do anything about it for two years, even though we told them about the problem and two peer review reports from other Labour council leaders.” Still, they chose someone with very little skill in finance.
Zinkin議員還批評工黨選擇的財政負責人選不當。「即使我們提出警告，並且有其他工黨領袖提供的兩份同行評估報告指出問題，他們兩年來仍然無所作為。」最終，工黨選擇了一位財務能力非常有限的人。
He also said that Labour had wasted money and time. “They wasted two years and spent all 100 million in reserves which was the money the Barnet Conservatives left as a safety net.” It’s £200,000 from people who live there every day from 2022.
他還指出工黨浪費了大量資金和時間。「他們浪費了兩年時間，花光了由Barnet保守黨政府留下、作為安全儲備的1億英鎊。」這相當於自2022年以來，居民每天貢獻的20萬英鎊。
The head of the Conservative Party says that his party had warned of the risks and given ways to deal with them. “We suggested cutting the council communications budget, the number of cabinet members and the number of staff by 4.7%.” Labour laughed at our ideas but now they’re thinking about laying off 10 of their staff to try to fix the mess they made.
保守黨領袖表示，他們早已警告過這些風險，並提出解決方案。「我們建議削減市議會通訊預算、減少內閣成員人數及員工人數4.7%。」工黨當時嘲笑我們的建議，但現在他們自己卻考慮裁員10人以挽救局面。
Labour Official Rejects Allegations –工黨官員駁斥指控
Ammar Naqvi, who was in charge of government finances, said that the claims of the government were based on “disgraceful ignorance”. He claimed that the Conservative government had left behind deep financial issues that Labour was now trying to fix.
負責政府財政事務的Ammar Naqvi議員駁斥了這些指控，稱其為「可恥的無知」。他指出，保守黨政府留下了嚴重的財政問題，現在工黨正努力修復。
Cllr Naqvi told Barnet Post, “Once again, it shows a shameful lack of knowledge about the financial damage the Conservative Party caused, both locally and nationally.”
Naqvi議員對《Barnet Post》表示：「這再次顯示了保守黨對其本地及全國範圍內造成的財務破壞缺乏羞恥心和認識。」
He didn’t agree with Cllr Zinkin suggestions for ways to save money. “Even the savings he talks about only add up to £3.3 million. Next year we will have a £28 million budget gap because of the Conservatives.” Even worse, financial officials told him that not all of his plans could be carried out.
他不同意Zinkin議員提出的節省建議。「即使按他所說的方法，也只節省了330萬英鎊。而明年，由於保守黨的原因，我們將面臨2800萬英鎊的預算缺口。」更糟的是，財務官員已經告知他，並非所有建議都能落實。
Also, Cllr Naqvi turned down claims about reserve funds. “Most of the reserves he talks about were set aside to meet promises that the Conservative colleagues made when they signed the council.” This includes using savings to pay for things they didn’t plan to pay for.
此外，Naqvi議員也反駁了關於儲備金的說法。「他提到的大部分儲備金其實是為了履行保守黨同僚當年簽訂市議會協議時做出的承諾而預留的。」包括用儲備金支付本不該支付的支出。
He said that the Conservative government had not done enough to plan for long-term financial stability. “In the past two years, we’ve found a lot of money problems that came up during the 19 years that the Barnet Conservatives were in power. It will take some time to fix them all.”
他指出，保守黨政府未有妥善規劃長期財政穩定。「過去十九年，Barnet保守黨執政期間累積了大量財政問題，我們需要時間才能完全修復。」
Cllr Naqvi said the previous Conservative government was bad at managing money because they outsourced financial control. “They did not make plans for the future because they chose to give Capita financial control for years, which kept problems from being seen.”
Naqvi議員批評前保守黨政府，指責他們將財務控制外包出去。「他們多年來將財政控制交給Capita公司，導致問題被隱藏，未能作好未來規劃。」
He also didn’t agree with Cllr Zinkin’s approval of the finance inspection group, saying that it missed the problems that Labour later found. The financial inspection group found no issues, which Cllr Zinkin keeps discussing. That was the job of the Labour government. We are now focused on making the tough choices we need to make to clean up the mess they left us with.
他亦不同意Zinkin議員對財政檢查小組的讚揚，指出該小組未能發現後來由工黨揭露的問題。「財政檢查小組當時未有發現任何問題，而Zinkin議員仍然不斷提起這點。現在我們的重點是作出必要的艱難決策，清理他們留下的爛攤子。」