Will Leicestershire County Council ever see its £5m again?

If you were making a list of the worst organisations to grant an unsecured loan, Northamptonshire County Council would be somewhere near the top.

But that is precisely what Leicestershire County Council did, loaning them £5m at an interest rate of 0.75 per cent.

As Bill Boulter, the doyen of Leicestershire Lib Dems, observed to the Leicester Mercury:

“There was enough indication that Northamptonshire was in financial trouble before that loan. 

“They were saying it themselves. Yet still we gave them the money. ... 

“The Tory run council in Leicestershire is planning to close children’s centres and make millions of pounds of cuts but we still have £5 million to loan to another struggling council.”

I am unable to confirm rumours that Leicestershire County Council has spent a further £5m on buying London Bridge and some magic beans.