Councillors clash at a heated meeting as tempers flared over the Harborough district's new budget

Ruling Conservatives and opposition Liberal Democrats locked horns and went head to head at a high-octane full council meeting on Monday night.

Tempers flared and emotions boiled over as the council split along party lines and backed the district’s all-important budget for 2020-21 by 18 votes to 10.

The local authority has frozen its share of the Council Tax for almost 40,000 householders – with the band D property fee staying at £167.97 as a result.

But furious Liberal Democrats branded the move to spend almost £2 million of reserves as a “ramraid”.

They hit out after Cllr James Hallam, the council’s deputy leader and finance portfolio holder, told councillors: “This is a good well-balanced budget.

“It protects our existing services and supports the build out of developments as well as supplying affordable housing for those in need.”

He insisted that the bold blueprint to fork out well over £12 million would protect the young, the old and the vulnerable throughout far-flung Harborough.

But Cllr Phil Knowles, the leader of the council’s Liberal Democrat group, retorted: “This is not to be commended.

“This budget is far too reliant on using up our reserves.

“Bleeding reserves at this rate is a huge issue.”

He added: “I’ve also got deep concerns about relying too much on commercial property rents.

“Many companies are asking for reductions in the rent they pay – this is a big worry.”

Cllr Mark Graves, a Liberal Democrat based in Broughton Astley, turned up the heat in the chamber as he snapped: “This is a ramraid budget!

“It’s ramraiding the district’s reserves.

“All our reserves will be used up at this rate in the next four to five years.”

The blazing chartered accountant insisted: “The budget process has been shocking.

“I’m shocked by the numbers in it.

“There’s a massive pull on reserves – we’ve only got a few years left.”

Cllr Rosita Page, a Conservative who represents Ullesthorpe, immediately fired back: “I object to this Liberal grandstanding.

“We are providing services, not ramraiding our reserves.”

She said they should be saluted for freezing the Council Tax as it drained “a huge amount of money out of people’s wages”.

“We have done extremely well for giving our residents the best possible services,” said Cllr Page.

Cllr Hallam backed her, declaring: “To talk about a ramraid is a little bit theatrical.

“These reserves are earmarked.

“We are using almost £900,000 less in reserves than last year – and there are still £10 million in our reserves.”

Staring down his opponents just feet away, he argued: “We can cut services or we can use our reserves.

“Do you want us to cut bin collections, grasscutting or money spent tackling homelessness?”

Cllr Phil King, the council’s leader, triggered uproar on the Liberal Democrat benches as he roared: “This is just more psycho babble from across the tables!”

He withdrew the “psycho” bit of the accusation after outraged Cllr Knowles leapt up to challenge him.

“OK, babble,” said Cllr King.

“We have not got a simple cohesive line on this budget from the opposition.

“We’ve not had a single positive comment about what we do – just more carping about what we shouldn’t do.

“We have built up our reserves over a number of years.

“This is a very sound budget and we should all support it.”