Last updated 13:17, Monday, 28 July 2008

THE DEPUTY leader of Cumbria County Council has been stripped of all cabinet responsibilities after auditors found major errors in the accounts.
Liberal Democrat Joan Stocker, who was responsible for budgets and performance, is furious. She says she has been made a scapegoat for officers’ mistakes.
The row threatens to destroy the Conservative/Liberal Democrat alliance that has run the authority since 2001.
It emerged on Friday that millions of pounds of spending had been wrongly categorised in the 2007-8 accounts.
Although no cash has gone missing, the errors have ruined any chance the council had of improving its rating as one of the worst-performing local authorities in England.
The council’s leader, Conservative Tim Stoddard, moved quickly todayMON to lay the blame at Mrs Stocker’s door.
Councillors received an email saying it was the second year running that errors had been found in the accounts.
The statement added: “Throughout this whole period, the deputy leader has had responsibility for the council’s budget and its performance.
“A repeat error of this significance must be addressed.
“As a consequence, the leader has decided to relieve the deputy leader of all her cabinet responsibilities, including the budget portfolio, with immediate effect.
“This includes all areas of responsibility included within the deputy leader’s remit.”
Mr Stoddard will take over Mrs Stocker’s responsibilities until a cabinet reshuffle is announced.
She can continue to sit in the cabinet without a portfolio.
She also remains deputy leader as only the full council has powers to remove her.
Mrs Stocker told the News & Star today: “I am disappointed. It seems as if I have been made a scapegoat.
“The council’s performance has improved but the one thing I can’t control has gone wrong. I think ‘scapegoat’ is a fair word.”
Mrs Stocker is a councillor for Windermere.
She has been leader of the Liberal Democrat group and deputy leader of the council since 2005.
The Liberal Democrats were meeting this morningMON to discuss what to do next.
But Stewart Young, leader of the opposition Labour group, believes that the Conservative/Liberal Democrat alliance is finished.
He said: “The leader of the council [Mr Stoddard] has sacked the leader of the Liberal Democrat group [Mrs Stocker] from her portfolio.
“How can they have a joint administration now?
“It’s mind blowing. The administration has collapsed and there needs to be a new administration.”
The dust is unlikely to settle until the full council next meets on September 10.