So much for being “a business leader with a proven track record”
A Reform council leader, responsible for a budget of £1.5billion, and providing services to 513,000 people in the northeast, has seen two of his companies collapse while owing £1.5million.
Far from being “a business leader with a proven track record”, as Reform had hailed him last May, Andrew Husband, the leader of Durham county council, has presided over the collapse of his companies which owe debts, including more than £500,000 in unpaid taxes, government-backed Covid loans, and wages owed to staff.
The Times reports: “Filings for one of his companies reveal “there will be no funds available” to reimburse creditors including HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), which is owed more than £69,000, and Funding Circle, a lender which provided a £200,000 state-backed coronavirus business interruption loan scheme (CBILS) loan during the pandemic.
“Shortly after Husband’s election, liquidators for the firm — United Hygiene and Catering Equipment, which supplied kit to schools and hospitals — reported there will be “no funds available” for former employees owed holiday and redundancy pay.”
And to think that Husband has been keen to follow in the footsteps of Elon Musk and launch a ‘DODGE’ inspired audit of council spending. He needs to get his own house in order first.
Husband’s second company, UHC Leisure, a pub and hotel business, was placed into administration in July 2025.
That company owes HMRC £470,000 in VAT, national insurance and PAYE contributions.
Husband has defended himself, blaming “bad government, not bad management” for his companies’ failures, and said: “Both were profitable prior to closure, coinciding with my focus moving to politics. Bad government got me into politics.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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