Cllr Diogo Rodrigues is the Leader of the Conservative Group on Somerset Council.
Children’s services downgraded, adult social care requiring improvement, children with SEND facing unacceptable waits for support, rural roads neglected and council services cut back. You might not immediately associate that record with a party which likes to tell us how much it cares about public services, but welcome to Liberal Democrat-run Somerset.
Four years ago, the Liberal Democrats won control of Somerset County Council. They inherited an authority with a balanced budget, growing reserves and a strong record of investment in local services, before taking responsibility for overseeing the creation of the new unitary Somerset Council in 2023, bringing the county and four district councils together into one.
Conservatives lost control in 2022 against an incredibly difficult national political backdrop, but locally we had a record we could be proud of. The Liberal Democrats were given the opportunity not only to run the council, but to shape a new one, and what a mess they have made of it.
Lib Dem-Somerset has declared a financial emergency and required Exceptional Financial Support from the Government for three years running. Though they claim to have no money, millions have been found for consultants and even more for temporary and agency staff, while council debt now stands at more than £1 billion. Commercial properties bought for hundreds of millions of pounds are being sold off at huge losses, and the situation has become serious enough that the Government has now issued Somerset with a Best Value Notice.
Residents have been asked to pay more throughout, with council tax increasing by almost 40 per cent. At the height of the financial emergency, the Liberal Democrats also began offloading services and assets to town and parish councils. The cost of those services did not disappear, and in some places town council tax bills increased by hundreds of pounds overnight as they were left to pick up services Somerset would no longer fund.
Despite residents paying more, services have got worse. Nowhere is that more obvious than in SEND. In neighbouring North Somerset, around 85 per cent of Education, Health and Care Plans are completed within the statutory 20-week timeframe. In Somerset, it’s fewer than two per cent. Officers have declared Somerset as “one of the most poorly performing Local Authorities in England” on EHCP delivery. You might therefore be surprised to learn that the Liberal Democrat Leader of Somerset Council is also the County Councils Network’s national spokesperson for Education and SEND.
SEND is not the only service where things have gone backwards. Children’s Services have been downgraded by Ofsted, while Adult Social Care has also been rated Requires Improvement by the CQC. Our roads have suffered too, particularly in rural Somerset, where residents are all too familiar with potholes and deteriorating road surfaces.
There are real problems within the organisation itself too. Last year, Somerset recorded 41,822 working days lost to sickness, complaints to the council reached record levels and Freedom of Information requests also hit new highs. This is an organisation that is simply not working as it should.
Of course, the Liberal Democrats have an excuse for everything. They point to national pressures, local government funding, the challenges of creating a new unitary authority and, inevitably, “blame the Tories!” But they have been in charge for more than four years. At some point they must take responsibility for the council they run.
The Liberal Democrats were very good at telling people what they were against when they were in opposition. After four years in control, it is difficult to work out what they actually stand for.
Somerset Council is not working under the Liberal Democrats, and we simply cannot afford four more years of it. But it is not enough for us Conservatives to point at their failures, we have to show people what we would do differently. That starts with getting a grip of the finances, ending the cycle of financial emergencies and delivering good services and value for money. That is at the heart of our plan to Get Somerset Working Again.
We will make improving children’s services and SEND a priority, invest more in fixing our roads and back our high streets and local businesses. We will take a tougher approach to anti-social behaviour and unlawful traveller encampments, protect our countryside and stand up for Somerset’s farmers.
We have used our time in opposition to challenge the administration and campaign on the issues people raise with us, whether that is the state of the council’s finances, the SEND crisis, damaging road schemes or proposals for huge increases in parking charges. We are now preparing to turn that work in opposition into a programme for running the council.
The West Country has historically been a Conservative-Liberal Democrat battleground, and Somerset is no different. Reform may take votes next May, but splitting the anti-Liberal Democrat vote risks helping the Lib Dems hold on. If voters want to remove them from power, the Conservatives are the only party capable of doing it.
We have been selecting Conservative candidates across Somerset and they are out in their communities now, knocking on doors, speaking to residents and doing the work needed to win.
Next May, all 96 seats on Somerset Council will be contested and our goal is to take back control of the council. We take nothing for granted, but after four years of financial mismanagement, higher council tax and declining services, Somerset cannot afford four more years of the Liberal Democrats.
Only the Conservatives can stop the Lib Dems, get a grip on the finances and Get Somerset Working Again. We’ve done it before. We can do it again.