Burnham Declares £500 Million War on Tory Councils

Andy Burnham’s Government has been accused of waging a £500 million “class war” on wealthy councils, slashing funding from rural Tory and Lib Dem areas to bankroll urban Labour Party strongholds. The Telegraph has the story.

An analysis by the Telegraph shows that Tory and Lib Dem-dominated councils in England will receive a £487 million cut in Government-controlled grants and funding during this Parliament.

Labour councils, by contrast, will enjoy a £1.6 billion funding increase.

The cuts are so deep that some town halls have warned they would be forced to impose dramatic increases in council tax to make up the shortfall.

Councillors have said that their ability to fix potholes, collect bins and build new infrastructure are “under threat” as a result of the funding cuts.

Kemi Badenoch said she was prepared to challenge the cuts in court, saying ministers were “taking money from areas that don’t vote Labour and giving it to places that do vote Labour”.

On Friday, she said: “Labour’s spiteful class war continues – they just can’t help themselves.

“Councils that balance their books and spend taxpayers’ money responsibly are being punished because the politics of envy runs so deep within Labour. If councils like bankrupt Birmingham and Nottingham managed their finances properly, Labour wouldn’t need to raid everyone else’s coffers.

“A Labour Government taking money away from Conservative-run councils to hand it to their own is like financial gerrymandering. And it’s ordinary people who will pay the price in higher council tax and worse services, through no fault of their own.”

However, Angela Rayner’s communities department, which pushed through the reforms, insisted the changes were needed to rebalance funding towards areas with higher deprivation, so that it was “truly based on need”.

Shortly before he became Prime Minister, Burnham suggested that large parts of the country were being left behind compared with London, and pledged to deliver “good growth in every postcode”.

He said: “The whole country suffers when the regions and nations are not meeting their potential and Londoners are left with an overheated economy and overcrowded housing market… we will never get growth up to the level Britain needs unless every single postcode… is set up to contribute to it.”

Councillors told the Telegraph they were “looking down the barrel of a gun” and accused ministers of “choosing to force councils into a form of bankruptcy”.

Worth reading in full.