Local Government Reorganisation: South-east

Will Forster Excerpts

Tuesday 10th March 2026 Westminster Hall

[Mr Will Forster (Woking) (LD)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Vickers. I thank my constituency neighbour and hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Dr Pinkerton) for leading this debate and eloquently putting the case. I endorse his calls this afternoon.

I will use my time to talk about why local government reorganisation in the south-east is happening, as well as its opportunities and risks. LGR, as it is known for short, is happening in Surrey first because of the dire financial state of local government there. I have raised it with the Minister before, in one-to-ones, Committee meetings and the Chamber, so I know that she, too, knows that that is why LGR is happening in Surrey. It is almost inevitable because of the appalling decisions that have been made by the Conservatives who run Surrey county council, and boroughs and districts across my county.

Nowhere is it more true than in my constituency of Woking, where the former Conservative administration of Woking borough council borrowed more than £2 billion for risky commercial investments. It is a small borough council with the debts of a small country. My local authority borrowed and spent more than £700 million on a town centre regeneration scheme, which councillors originally signed off at £150 million. It borrowed money from the Government to loan to a private school, despite the fact, as I highlighted during Prime Minister’s questions last week, that a state school has a hole in its roof and a rotten floor. It then borrowed money to build, run and maintain a power plant in Milton Keynes. That raft of financial decisions will hurt my constituents and, I am afraid, those of my hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath, and the whole country, for years to come.

Where is the accountability in all this? Well, since those appalling decisions were made my constituents have voted out of office every single Conservative councillor on Woking borough council, and I am pleased they did. There is political accountability there, but where is the personal accountability? I have called for the former chief executive officer of Woking borough council, Ray Morgan, to lose his OBE. Investigations are under way into him and others; does the Minister agree that the former CEO should lose his honour straight away?

I am concerned about the legacy of debt that will be passed on to the new west Surrey council. I am pleased that the Government agreed, among previous Ministers, an unprecedented and historic write-off of £500 million of Woking’s debt. My constituents and I are obviously very grateful for that, but the money could not possibly have been repaid. I am pleased that the Government recognised that, but more debt write-off and more support are going to be needed to ensure that the new council does not start off bankrupt on day one. The Minister recently wrote to me outlining further support for west Surrey, as well as what we have agreed for Woking; will she comment on what further support the Government can bring?

Let me move on to an issue that is close to my heart. Members might think that being the MP for the most bankrupt and indebted council area in the country is about as bad as it could get. I am afraid I also represent the area where Sara Sharif was tortured, abused and murdered by her family. What makes that worse is that Surrey county council could have saved her on multiple occasions. From day one, the council wanted to take custody of her, away from her family, but did not. The day before she was murdered, the council tried to visit her to see whether she was safe but went to the wrong house. Surrey has shown systemic failure in looking after vulnerable constituents, and that was a tragic result.

Thankfully, children’s services will be broken up and divided between east and west Surrey, but I am terrified that the culture of not looking after vulnerable children will be passed on to the new west Surrey council, and I know that colleagues representing the east Surrey council area feel similarly. Will the Minister please work with me and others to ensure that our new council has a good culture that includes looking after vulnerable children and responding to MPs’ emails? That would be a stark contrast to the reality I see from Surrey county council.

Finally, I want to mention another risk of local Government reorganisation. Under the Conservatives, Surrey county council recently announced that it is going to end free school meal vouchers. The council is going to allow them to continue for Easter but, coincidentally, as soon as the elections are over, it is going to stop feeding vulnerable constituents over the holidays in my Woking constituency and across Surrey. That will mean no more free school vouchers in the May half-term or summer breaks. Will the Minister investigate that and ensure that Surrey is adequately funded so that our constituents are supported? Does she agree that it is shocking and deceitful that, under the cloud of local government reorganisation, the Conservative county council is trying to deprive children in my constituency of a healthy meal?