Labour fury over levelling-up funds
THE UK Government must “end the Hunger Games style competition” for community funding, Labour has said.
Shadow levelling-up secretary Lisa Nandy also claimed that Michael Gove’s department was the “biggest loser” in the autumn statement, and his pleas for more funding for councils had been “ignored by the Chancellor”.
But the Communities Secretary insisted his department was “securing the funding it needs” in the wake of Jeremy Hunt’s announcement.
At communities questions in the Commons, Ms Nandy said: “Only a third of the levelling up funds have been allocated and after wasting our time with the short lived investment zones, the second round is months behind schedule.
“So can we bring some sense to this madness. End the Hunger Games style competition and allow all our communities not just his favourites to decide how their own money is spent?”
Communities secretary Michael Gove described Lisa Nandy as the “Marcus Rashford of the Labour Party, the person coming on at the last minute may actually change the fortunes of the team for the better”.
He added: “I wish (her) good luck in all future penalty shootouts, if it is Hunger Games they’re talking about then it’s the Labour Party leadership which is closer to that than any other contest in this House.
“But on the substantive point that she makes, it is important that we look at how we fund local government overall and of course there does need to be competitive funding in order to make sure that we can learn from the best, but it is also the case that we need to look at formula funding as well and we shall.”