Government minister slams council leadership over ‘disastrous’ Robin Hood Energy failure
A Government minister has called into question the future of the leadership of Nottingham City Council over its handling of the failed Robin Hood Energy (RHE) company.
RHE’s customer were last week sold to Centrica with 250 jobs lost in Nottingham.
The deal came after a disastrous year for RHE, which saw it lose more than £23m and replace most of its top brass.
Council leader David Mellen said: “We know this is a very sad day for the business and its employees who have played a part in creating a more dynamic and customer orientated market for all energy consumers.”
A recent report from Grant Thornton slammed Nottingham City Council for its governance of RHE after it had invested £43m of public money and provided £16.5m of guarantees.
David Mellen
Now Local Government Minister Simon Clarke, the Tory MP for East Cleveland and Middlesborough, has called into question the Nottingham City Council leadership’s ability to do their job.
Clarke said: “The people of Nottingham will be aghast at this disastrous waste of their hard-earned money. This will likely have stark consequences in the real world in terms of service cuts and job losses as Nottingham City Council.
“The independent auditors have said the Council showed ‘institutional blindness’ to the risks they were running with other people’s money. It is now for the Council’s leadership to decide whether they are the right people to continue to lead one of our most important cities.”
Councillor Andrew Rule, leader of the minority Conservative opposition in the council, said: Although Councillor Steve Battlemuch thankfully resigned last week as chairman of the Audit Committee overseeing this mess we call on the Council Leader, David Mellen, to resign as he signed off further lending during his tenure to support Robin Hood Energy plus councillor Sam Webster who as Finance Portfolio Holder was there to watch over the council’s investments but failed to do so and Councillor Sally Longford who held RHE in her brief. But will they go?
“This cannot be forgotten and swept under the carpet. The residents and businesses of Nottingham deserve, and are rightfully demanding, accountability and transparency; so with no resignations from senior councillors offered to date whether there is to be any real accountability, other than sorry and crocodile tears from the Labour leadership, remains to be seen. As has been said by others over the years ‘Labour owns Nottingham” and this is what happens.
“Finally if you are a customer of Robin Hood Energy please take photo evidence of your meter readings today – it may be messy.”
