Reacting to the government’s financial settlement for local government announced today, Green Party co leader Adrian Ramsay MP said:
“The funding settlement is barely enough to keep councils ticking over. It does very little to ease the underlying financial stresses that local authorities are facing after years of rising costs around social care, special educational needs and reduced government grants.
“The government’s planning reforms and stated intentions for local government re-organisation mean stripping local people of a democratic say in how local services are delivered, while this latest funding round deprives councils of the means to deliver quality services for all.
“We need a real change in local government finances that enables councils to use money raised from those with the broadest shoulders to deliver quality services that people need and want.”