Burnham says public services could be cut in terror cost row

THE Mayor of Manchester has warned that public services in the city will have to be cut because the Government has not reimbursed the full cost of the terror attack which killed 22 people earlier this year.

Andy Burnham has accused Theresa May of refusing to pay back a bill of more than £17million despite initially pledging to give the city everything it needed. The former Labour MP said he should not be forced to “plead” for the funding when Kensington and Chelsea council has been awarded support following the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

The row comes after the Prime Minister sent Mr Burnham a letter setting out what the Government has so far agreed to pay – around £12million in “reasonable costs”. Mr Burnham said: “We feel we’ve waited long enough and we need to see it resolved, and resolved quickly. Not just reasonable costs, but all costs that were incurred should be reimbursed.”

He added: “We haven’t been trying it on, we’ve put together the evidence to back up our claim. Look at the books, this is what we’ve spent. If we don’t get it back we have to start cutting public services and that can’t be right. We shouldn’t have to plead for this money.”

A Whitehall source said the process for approving money has not yet concluded. A Government spokesman said: “We have given strong assurance Manchester will receive £12 million. That includes £3 million being paid now and £1million to support the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund.”