“Explain Yourselves”: Labour Finance Chair & Council Officials Called to Justify Sudden Turnaround in Council’s Finances...

Hartlepool Civic Centre

Motion set to go before the full council next week seeks answers over just how the council financial position suddenly improved in the space of just three months, as councillors demand answers...

11th July 2025

Hartlepool’s Labour-led Council is said to be facing a major reckoning, after a group of councillors submitted a formal motion demanding senior finance officials publicly explain how the town councils finances supposedly made a miraculous recovery in just three months—after the labour led council hiked Council Taxes by 4.99% in April, supposedly in direct contradiction Labours own 2024 election pledge.

The motion, scheduled for debate at the full council meeting on 17th July, calls upon the Labour Chair of Finance Brenda Harrison and senior council finance officers to provide a full, transparent, and verifiable breakdown of what changed between February and May 2025.

From “We’re Broke” to “We’ve Fixed It” in 90 Days?

Keir Starmers 'Not a Penny More' Council Tax pledge has come back to haunt Labour once more, as Council Taxes in Hartlepool actually increased under a Labour led council.

Labour’s 2024 local and general election campaign was built on a clear pledge to freeze Council Tax in 2025. Keir Starmer himself promised voters they would not need to pay “a penny more” in council tax. But when the 2025 budget was approved in February for Hartlepool Borough Council, its claimed the Labour Group controlling Hartlepool Borough Council massively U-Turned—instead approving a 4.99% rise (2.99% core increase + 2% adult social care precept), claiming there was no alternative due to the state of the councils finances.

Now, its said that just a few months later, the same Labour Group is promising a freeze in council taxes for 2026—saying the financial position has supposedly been “stabilised.”

Motion Demands Clarity from Both the Finance Chair & Council Officials

Backed by councillors Cranney, Young, Martin-Wells, Smith, and Buchan, the motion formally demands the Chair of Finance and Corporate Affairs and the relevant senior council finance officials present a full and transparent report at the next full council meeting, with the following outlining the timeline of specific actions taken since May 2024 that allegedly “fixed” the finances, alongside any independent verification or audit to back up Labour’s claims, as well as a detailed financial plan explaining how a Council Tax freeze can now be delivered in 2026—when it was supposedly impossible just months earlier.

It comes following concerns Labours bid to freeze council taxes for 2025 has been an expensive election gimmick in order to stem the flow of votes being lost to Reform UK, who only yesterday evening seen yet another councillor elected in a former Labour stronghold council ward. Thats led to claims that Labours proposals to freeze council taxes for 2026 has been done as Labours set to lose swathes of council seats in 2026 when Hartlepool goes to the polls in the next round of local elections with critics claiming ay council tax freeze will only lead to further financial pain the year after, when the losses (some three million pounds in total) have to be recouped to manage the deficit created from implementing such a measure.

In documents Hartlepool Borough Council Exposed has seen, its claimed that whilst councillors have put the proposed council tax freeze to council finance officials, council finance officers themselves seemingly don't believe the plan is doable & that the losses in revenues from a council tax freeze will in turn undue much of the budget savings the councils implemented over the last five years with the council not just kicking the can down the road, but could in turn be actually making things much worse in the long term.

The motion will go before the council on the 17th July, however sources claim with labours continued majority in the council chamber (at least for the time being) opposition councillors seeking the books being opened to establish just how the councils financial position suddenly improved is likely not to be forthcoming, as its widely expected Labour will vote down the proposals fearing the tapestry of Labours Council Tax freeze would be unravelled.