A cabinet member said he was “embarrassed” to share the council chamber with Tories last night.

As Redbridge Council approved its 2019-20 budget in a heated meeting, Cllr Kam Rai, cabinet member for finance, grew frustrated.

The Labour councillor took to Twitter to air his thoughts.

He said: “Tonight I was actually embarrassed to sit in the chamber with the Tories.

“They provided budget amendments totalling 0.1 per cent of the revenue.

“No vision, no ideas, no clue, betraying everyone who put an X next to their name.”

Tonight I was actually embarrassed to sit in the chamber with the Tories. They provided budget amendments totalling 0.1% of the revenue. No vision, no ideas, no clue, betraying everyone who put an x next to their name.

— Kam Rai (@KamRai7) 28 February 2019

The comments came after budget discussions saw the Labour-led authority’s budget passed.

Labour councillors blamed central government cuts for putting councils across the country in difficult positions.

Since 2010, Redbridge has lost £160million from its overall budget and councillors expect more cuts to come in the next five years.

Fellow Labour councillor, Cllr Jo Blackman of Wanstead Village ward, also slammed the Tories’ conduct in the meeting.

She said: “Tories not even attempting to put up a defence of cuts imposed on local government at tonight’s annual budget meeting.

“Appalling abdication of responsibility of opposition to scrutinise the council and represent residents.”

Tories not even attempting to put up a defence of cuts imposed on local govt at tonight’s annual budget meeting. Appalling abdication of responsibility of opposition to scrutinise the council and represent residents. https://t.co/JoLStusyjX

— Jo Blackman (@Jcblackman) 28 February 2019

The now approved budget, with no amendments, includes a 3.99 per cent council tax rise, one per cent of which will be ringfenced to pay for care for the vulnerable and the elderly.

A new tax on commercial properties selling alcohol between the hours of 12 midnight and 6am has also been officially introduced.

This levy was fought against by Conservative councillors who said “it doesn’t work and other councils in England have scrapped it.”

In the 2019-20 financial year, the council will spend £3.89 million less on adult social care – which includes home care for vulnerable and elderly adults and funds for social workers – than it did last year.

Just under £500,000 has been slashed from the general housing fund, used for building, purchasing and maintaining council houses.

Of the remaining budget, £103 million has been ringfenced for building new homes and £70 million will be used to buy new council homes and replenish existing homes.

But the authority has also managed to secure £26.45 million from Mayor of London Sadiq Khan specifically for purchasing new, affordable council homes.

A further £43,900 has also been cut from the borough’s leisure and culture budget, which will fund libraries, leisure centres and arts initiatives across Redbridge.

Tory councillors denied any abdication of responsibility when representing their residents and tabled four amendments to the budget, including freezing parking charges and calls to scrap the late night levy.

A spokesman also said: “Labour gave us a motion asking for more money from the government late in the afternoon. If that had come to us a week in advance then we would have seriously looked at it but we don’t believe you should have these late motions so we decided we weren’t going to have any part of it.”

Cllr Linda Huggett, Conservative group leader, labelled the late tabling of the motion "an abuse of power".

Conservative Cllr Ruth Clark, of Fairlop ward, added: “Labour said our amendments were small and laughable, our amendments were what Redbridge residents wanted to see in the budget.

“So you voted against them all, you will realise it’s the small things that matter.”

Conservative Cllr Howard Berlin concluded: "In Conservative Hillingdon we have seen a well run efficient Council freeze Council Tax for ten years and offer great services to residents. Redbridge are the opposite. This shows that with Labour you pay more and get less."