Council funding announcement “biased” says Council Leader

Cllr Warren Morgan, Labour Leader of Brighton and Hove City Council, has slammed the Conservative government for handing Tory-led councils millions of pounds in funding, whilst giving Brighton and Hove “small change”.

He said;

The sum we have been given is derisory compared to those our neighbours have received from the Chancellor.

Together, seven council leaders from across the South East including myself wrote to the Prime Minister, the Chancellor and the Secretary of State last month demanding a better funding settlement.

Yesterday Surrey County Council received £11.9m, Hampshire £9.4 million, West Sussex £6.2 million and East Sussex £2.7million.

Brighton and Hove got just £39,000, small change, a derisory sum when set against the cuts of more than £20 million we are facing in our Budget. To make matters worse, we are also losing £6000 or 4.7% in a cut to money for new homes.”

He further asked the Conservatives;

“How is this fair or equitable for Brighton and Hove residents and the essential services we all use?

How can Tory ministers justify this apparent bias towards their political friends in local government?

What will local Tory leader Geoffrey Theobald and Tory MP Simon Kirby be doing to reverse this utterly biased decision?”

The figures were announced as part of the Final Local Government Settlement yesterday by the Department for Communities and Local Government, with an additional £150 million allocated to councils this year. Most has gone to Conservative-led rural councils.

This is the fourth time in four months Cllr Morgan has demanded better funding for local services from central Government.