Wiltshire Liberal Democrats yesterday slammed the Conservative administration in County Hall over the continued mismanagement of the county's money.

At yesterday's cabinet meeting, held in City Hall Salisbury, Conservative councillors said that there was an £11.7m deficit compared with their cash flow forecast for last year.

The Lib Dems say the variation from the administration's predictions was almost 50% - £37.3million as against a forecast of £25.6million. It follows an external audit report by KPMG which exposed the lack of controls in the county's new financial systems.

It was also revealed that Wiltshire Council borrowed a further £20million in February this year to help cope with the deficit.

Lib Dem Group Leader Jon Hubbard commented after the meeting, "In the last few months the council's Chief Financial Officer has gone - we are told it was 'by mutual consent'.

I wonder whom the cabinet member for finance is going to blame next for this clear incompetence. We keep being told that the problems being unearthed are due to the coming together of five authorities into one. However, four of the five councils were run by the Tories, three of the current Conservative cabinet were leaders of the previous councils and the vast majority of the ruling group were members of the previous councils.

When will the Conservative Administration accept responsibility for the mess they have created and stop trying to blame someone else?"

Andrew Kerr, chief executive of Wiltshire Council, said: “The council is currently working on a business plan that sets out how the council will continue to protect vulnerable people, particularly the ageing population and children and invest money into front line services including leisure, waste, school improvements, broadband access, our communities and the economy.”

He said one area under review was management costs and structures to reduce the number of managers in the council and to cut back on using agency and consultancy staff.