Caroline Flint – 2010 Comments on Unequal Financial Support for Councils

The comments made by Caroline Flint, the then Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary, on 20 December 2010. The text in bold is from the Labour Party’s press release.

[Sheffield hit four times as hard as Cameron’s Witney

Caroline Flint MP, Labour’s Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary, has responded to House of Commons figures revealing that the most deprived councils in England will see a fall in revenue spending power in 2011/12 on average nearly four times as big as the least deprived councils.

Meanwhile, Labour Party analysis shows Tory Cabinet Ministers’ constituencies getting off lighter than many other areas, including those of their Lib Dem colleagues.

Nick Clegg’s Sheffield council will suffer a cut of 8.4% whereas David Cameron’s Witney constituents living in Oxfordshire County Council will get off with only a 1.9% reduction. Oliver Letwin’s Dorset County Council will even see its central government support rise.]

These figures confirm what many feared – we’re not all in this together. While Sheffield council taxpayers will see their council lose eight percent of its central government support, Tory Cabinet ministers’ areas are getting off much lighter.

The Tory-Lib Dem Government has chosen to hit the poorest councils hardest, with average cuts for the most deprived communities four times bigger than those in the better off areas. In some cases, the cuts are nearly nine times as big.

That’s unfair and it shows just how out of touch this Government is with ordinary people.

Eric Pickles must now explain why the hardest pressed towns and cities up and down the country are faced with spending cuts substantially greater than the best off areas.