The council leader who can’t balance his own budget

James Alexander, who earns more than £30,000-a-year after becoming York Council’s leader last month, was given the £200 advance following the request to chief executive Kersten England.

Coun Alexander, 29, who is the youngest council leader in the country, made a frank admission about his financial predicament on his Facebook page on Saturday.

He admitted he has “two £1,500 overdrafts maxed out” and had “spent his last tenner yesterday”, and had been unable to afford to buy “his nearest and dearest” birthday presents.

The Liberal Democrat group’s leader, Carol Runciman, called into question her political opponent’s suitability to lead the council while multi-million pound cutbacks are having to be imposed.

She said: “You have to ask whether Coun Alexander is capable of overseeing the council’s budgets when he can’t seem to manage his own finances. A lot of council employees are also struggling in the current economic climate. But we cannot have every staff member asking for an advance, it would cause chaos.”

Coun Alexander was adamant the advance was a one-off, and maintained he was entitled to the cash for several days of work at the end of last month after being sworn in as the leader on May 26.

He claimed he had previously been surviving on £18,000-a-year after giving up his York St John University job when he was made Labour group leader last year.

He said: “I am not a rich person, I have never pretended to be. Our council budget will reverse £1m in cuts unnecessarily imposed by the previous Liberal Democrat administration. People will then be able to judge who is the most financially prudent.”

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