Call for reversal of local funding cuts
HALTON Borough Council leader Rob Polhill has joined with his Labour counterparts from across England and Wales to call on new Prime Minister Boris Johnson to end local government funding cuts.
The local authority covering Runcorn and Widnes has lost more than £62m in funding since 2010.
Cuts begun by the Coalition of Conservative and Liberal Democrats and continued under the Tories has led to pressures on councils and their staff in many areas.
These include adult social care, more children being taken into care, a shortage of council housing, and council workers becoming the lowest paid in the public sector.
Cllr Polhill has signed a letter – which has also been backed by more 100 Labour council leaders from England and Wales – which calls on Mr Johnson to immediately invest £2bn in children’s services and £2bn in adult social care.
It also calls for a reverse to the changes to the council funding formula that have forced the biggest cuts on the most deprived areas, and pledge to use the Spending Review to restore council funding to 2010 levels over the next four years.
Cllr Polhill said: “This letter has my full support.
“Along with other Labour council leaders, I am calling on the new ● Prime Minister to immediately invest £2bn into children’s services and £2bn into adult social care, as well as using the upcoming Spending Review to restore funding to local government to 2010 levels over the next four years.
“We are delivering a powerful message to the Prime Minister and Chancellor that councils simply cannot take any more cuts.
“Further cuts to local government by central Government will mean that there will be devastating effects for children at risk, disabled adults, and vulnerable older people, as well as on community services up and down the country.”