By Cameron Blackshaw

A council’s row with an MP over potholes has escalated right to the top of government after Sir Keir Starmer threatened to take funding away from the authority during Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs).

In response, Bexley Council has written to the Prime Minister asking him to check his facts, claiming Bexleyheath and Crayford MP Daniel Francis provided him with misinformation.

Last week, the Labour MP said he visited every road in his constituency, reporting the potholes he encountered to ensure the council was spending the £895,000 it had received from the Department for Transport this year to repair road defects.

In the House of Commons, Mr Francis added: “However, the Conservative council cabinet member responsible for roads wrote to our local newspaper, News Shopper, asking that I stop reporting potholes because it was causing work for the council.

“Will the Prime Minister join me in urging my Conservative council to get on and spend that money to make roads, such as Mayplace Road East, safe to drive on?”

In response, the Prime Minister said: “So, this is a local Conservative council telling my honourable friend not to point out potholes in case it has to fill them. That is outrageous—just like the record of the last 14 years.

“We know how problematic, dangerous and costly potholes are to drivers. That is why we have delivered record investment to maintain our roads and fix potholes. That is £1.6billion. That money has been given to councils, but it comes with strings.

“My message to the council to reinforce that is clear: Use the money, fix the roads and show how you are carrying out repairs, or lose the money.

“It is councils that should get on with the job of fixing our roads. I will make sure the Roads Minister follows up with my honourable friend.”

Mr Francis later went on BBC Radio 5 Live and claimed Bexley Council had only spent £40,000 of the £895,000 in the first three months of this financial year.

Speaking to Matt Chorley, the MP said: “We have reported over 100 potholes. The council believes some of them do not meet the criteria [to be filled in]. I do not agree with that.

“I have created a measuring tool which is 20cm wide, and I have also been measuring the depth. Some of them that they say do not meet the criteria, I disagree with, and residents have been in touch with me to say they also disagree with.”

Mr Francis said that, in particular, the Mayplace Road East pothole he mentioned at PMQs was more than one metre wide and had still not been filled in.

Bexley Council confirmed the pothole did not meet its emergency repair criteria, and the authority said the road was due for resurfacing in December.

Mr Francis also said the number of A roads in Bexley rated in the council’s red category that require urgent attention had increased by 680% in four years, and the number of B and C roads in the red category had increased by 866%.

The MP blamed the council’s current administration for cutting its capital budget in half in 2021 for the rise.

His claims and questions to the Prime Minister were discussed at a public cabinet meeting of Bexley Council on October 23, where Conservative councillors were angered by the PM’s threat to remove the Department for Transport funding.

Cllr David Leaf, who will become Bexley’s new council leader next month, said he was “shocked and appalled” to hear what Mr Starmer had said in the House of Commons.

He added: “I think that is outrageous and disgraceful, and it is appalling that the Prime Minister did not check his facts.

“Perhaps he was too busy waiting for instructions from his Chinese Communist Party paymasters, or too distracted plotting the tax rises which are going to hit our residents and our businesses in next month’s budget, or perhaps he way too busy signing 35billion pounds of our money to Mauritius, but whatever the reason, it is unacceptable and we will very robustly defend our position and expect the Prime Minister to correct the record.”

Cllr Richard Diment, cabinet member for neighbourhoods and the man referred to by Mr Francis in the House of Commons, said the MP’s comments were “outrageous” as they put Bexley’s government funding at risk.

He added: “As we learned when he was a member of this council, Mr Francis is cavalier with the facts and deliberately misled the House of Commons yesterday.”

Cllr Diment said the MP reported more than 150 potholes in just over a week. The council inspected every single one and found that only around a quarter of these met the criteria for action, and only nine met the criteria for immediate action.

Cllr Diment believed Mr Francis’ actions had wasted council resources and taxpayers’ money.

He went on to compare the state of Bexley’s roads to those of neighbouring authorities. He claimed that in Bexley, around 1% of its A roads were in the red category, while in Lewisham it was 5%, in Havering it was 23% and in Croydon it was 25%.

When discussing B and C roads in the red, he said in Bexley it was 3% while in Greenwich it was 30%, in Havering it was 26%, in Lewisham it was 8% and in Croydon it was 18%.

Cllr Diment added: “Although it is unfortunate that we do have potholes, the reality is that our roads are in a far better condition than those of our neighbours.”

He also disputed the MP’s claims that Bexley had only spent £40,000 of the £895,000 annual fund, saying this figure referred to the amount of money that had been invoiced and paid for.

He said the council had actually spent £260,000 and had “every intention” to use the entire fund.

Cllr Diment concluded: “He needs to make it clear that he misled the House of Commons yesterday and we will be making that perfectly clear to the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Transport and we will be inviting the Secretary of State for Transport to come down here and see how we are keeping Bexley’s roads in a better condition that most of our neighbours.”

Cllr Leaf sent a letter to the PM on the following day, disputing what he had been told by Mr Francis, asking for assurances that Bexley’s funding would not be cut, and requesting “in future you will check your facts before causing concern to our residents and businesses and criticising the work undertaken by hardworking council staff and our contractors”.

Bexley Council is yet to receive a response.