Cash-strapped council to get £200m in debt relief

The government is to provide £200m to pay off part of Thurrock Council's debt, according to its Labour leader.

The unitary authority in Essex was declared effectively bankrupt in 2022 with a debt that peaked at £1.5bn.

Thurrock Labour MP Jen Craft said the debt relief was "a turning point for Thurrock".

The government is expected to announce further details later on Wednesday.

Thurrock Council borrowed hundreds of millions of pounds to invest largely in solar energy.

But the investments failed and led to the then Conservative authority needing government intervention to oversee and provide emergency financial support.

Labour took control of Thurrock Council in 2024.

The council is set to be abolished as part of the reorganisation of local government and merge with neighbouring councils in the next few years.

Leader Lynn Worrall said: "I am delighted that our Labour Government has listened to our calls to help protect Thurrock residents from the financial problems created by the Conservatives as we move into a new council."

But the Conservative opposition leader George Coxshall said Thurrock "still has a significant way to go to be on a stable financial footing".

Budget papers in December said Thurrock's debt was £677m. The authority had been able to recover some of the investments it had made.

The council will still have a multi-million pound debt after this relief package.

In December, Worrall told the BBC: "We will not get all our debt written off. We will get a proportion."

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