It is becoming clear that the continuing cuts in local government funding means that many councils will be unable to maintain basic services in the years ahead and some may face severe financial problems if not bankruptcy. Cuts in funding for adult social care to be announced by central government make the situation worse.
Against that background Brighton and Hove Council, a minority Green administration, released the statement below today. It is sure to spark a debate within the Green Party and the wider left about what a council should do in such circumstances:
Laying out the background to the budget, Councillor Ollie Sykes,
Green lead member for finance, said: "The bulk of the council's general
fund money each year comes from central government and over the past
four years the coalition government has cut its funding to us by a
frightening 32% in cash terms. After taking into account inflation and
increasing demand, this means we have £70m less this year, for services,
than when we came into office.
"And with council tax held down
below inflation - which means it has fallen by 12% in real terms - the
rest of the council's income cannot even begin to make up the shortfall.
"Other
councils have also been cut, though historically Brighton & Hove
has been cut hardest in the south east. And other councils are not
coping: many have closed essential services, from libraries to welfare
services, and the National Audit Office last week reported that more
than half of councils in England are at of risk financial failure within
the next five years. This week, Newcastle has warned of 'impossible
cuts leading to social unrest'."
Councillor Sykes continued:
"Until now, Brighton & Hove has escaped what other cities are
suffering. This Green administration has ensured that only a very small
fraction of those cuts have so far been passed on to the front line of
council services.
"We've done it by getting the basics right,
managing resources, rooting out inefficiency, greening the council's
building stock, and with great support and hard work from council staff.
We've kept all libraries and children's centres open, imposed no
compulsory redundancies on council employees, continued a fair
proportion of financial support for the third sector and even increased
spending for the city's most vulnerable. We've also brought in
unprecedented external funding to for city improvements, such as The
Level and Seven Dials.
"This year is different. The government
cuts are so huge and there's nothing left to squeeze. It means that
business will no longer be as usual. Unlike the past, some council
services will have to shrink or go. There will be redundancies and there
will be protests against those redundancies.
This is what coalition government cuts are now about to do to our city."
Turning to the Greens' response, Councillor Sykes says:
"This
is not a budget we're proud to see before us. But we can't print money
or ask officers to spend what we don't have. Despite everything, though,
we are doing what we can as a minority administration.
"Over
the coming weeks, we will be calling on the government to reinstate our
full grant and examining all possible ways to put the pressure on. We
hope our Labour and Conservative colleagues will join us, for the sake
of the city. What the coalition is doing to our most vulnerable
residents and our communities is frankly immoral.
"We are asking
the city to approve our proposals for a general 5.9% rise in council
tax. This will not solve the problem but it will raise more than £4m to
help maintain crucial services and avoid the imposition of a much
sharper tax rise for the most hard-up people in the city.
"And
we are making a series of pledges to keep open such core council
services as libraries, children's centres and public toilets, to protect
the city's most vulnerable from the worst of the cuts and not to
introduce anything that will contribute to the further transfer of
wealth from the least well off to the wealthiest in this country."
Caroline Lucas
MP for Brighton Pavilion has tabled an Early Day Motion on the cuts to try and initiate a debate in the House of Commons in December:
- This House believes, under the guise of austerity, central
government is slowly but surely putting an end to local government as we
know it;
- Notes that from 2010/11 to 2015/16, core central government
funding to local authorities has been slashed by 40%, whilst local
government responsibilities increase; further notes demand for council
services is growing and people are suffering under Government policies
harming the poorest and most disadvantaged such as the bedroom tax, cuts
to tax credits and benefits and the increase in VAT;
- Further notes the National Audit Office report criticising the
Government for failing to properly assess the effects of further cuts
to funding of councils by central government and the cross-party Local
Government Association warning over plans to stop funding Local Welfare
Assistance Schemes that “If the government pulls the plug on funding,
many local authorities will be unable to afford to make up the
difference at a time when we are tackling the biggest cuts to council
funding in living memory” which will cause three-quarters of councils to
scale back or scrap their schemes;
- Therefore calls for the cuts to local Government funding to be
reversed and for local government to be protected from further cuts to
enable local authorities to provide cherished community services as well
as vital social services such as support for looked-after children,
care-leavers, users of adult social care, older people, homeless people,
low-income families in crisis, disabled people, those with special
educational needs and emergency help to survivors of domestic violence.
Notes
Brighton and Hove singled-out for cuts:
LINK
Laying out the background to the budget, Councillor Ollie Sykes,
Green lead member for finance, said: "The bulk of the council's general
fund money each year comes from central government and over the past
four years the coalition government has cut its funding to us by a
frightening 32% in cash terms. After taking into account inflation and
increasing demand, this means we have £70m less this year, for services,
than when we came into office.
"And with council tax held down
below inflation - which means it has fallen by 12% in real terms - the
rest of the council's income cannot even begin to make up the shortfall.
"Other
councils have also been cut, though historically Brighton & Hove
has been cut hardest in the south east. And other councils are not
coping: many have closed essential services, from libraries to welfare
services, and the National Audit Office last week reported that more
than half of councils in England are at of risk financial failure within
the next five years. This week, Newcastle has warned of 'impossible
cuts leading to social unrest'."
Councillor Sykes continued:
"Until now, Brighton & Hove has escaped what other cities are
suffering. This Green administration has ensured that only a very small
fraction of those cuts have so far been passed on to the front line of
council services.
"We've done it by getting the basics right,
managing resources, rooting out inefficiency, greening the council's
building stock, and with great support and hard work from council staff.
We've kept all libraries and children's centres open, imposed no
compulsory redundancies on council employees, continued a fair
proportion of financial support for the third sector and even increased
spending for the city's most vulnerable. We've also brought in
unprecedented external funding to for city improvements, such as The
Level and Seven Dials.
"This year is different. The government
cuts are so huge and there's nothing left to squeeze. It means that
business will no longer be as usual. Unlike the past, some council
services will have to shrink or go. There will be redundancies and there
will be protests against those redundancies.
This is what coalition government cuts are now about to do to our city."
Turning to the Greens' response, Councillor Sykes says:
"This
is not a budget we're proud to see before us. But we can't print money
or ask officers to spend what we don't have. Despite everything, though,
we are doing what we can as a minority administration.
"Over
the coming weeks, we will be calling on the government to reinstate our
full grant and examining all possible ways to put the pressure on. We
hope our Labour and Conservative colleagues will join us, for the sake
of the city. What the coalition is doing to our most vulnerable
residents and our communities is frankly immoral.
"We are asking
the city to approve our proposals for a general 5.9% rise in council
tax. This will not solve the problem but it will raise more than £4m to
help maintain crucial services and avoid the imposition of a much
sharper tax rise for the most hard-up people in the city.
"And
we are making a series of pledges to keep open such core council
services as libraries, children's centres and public toilets, to protect
the city's most vulnerable from the worst of the cuts and not to
introduce anything that will contribute to the further transfer of
wealth from the least well off to the wealthiest in this country."
Caroline Lucas
MP for Brighton Pavilion has tabled an Early Day Motion on the cuts to try and initiate a debate in the House of Commons in December:
- This House believes, under the guise of austerity, central
government is slowly but surely putting an end to local government as we
know it;
- Notes that from 2010/11 to 2015/16, core central government
funding to local authorities has been slashed by 40%, whilst local
government responsibilities increase; further notes demand for council
services is growing and people are suffering under Government policies
harming the poorest and most disadvantaged such as the bedroom tax, cuts
to tax credits and benefits and the increase in VAT;
- Further notes the National Audit Office report criticising the
Government for failing to properly assess the effects of further cuts
to funding of councils by central government and the cross-party Local
Government Association warning over plans to stop funding Local Welfare
Assistance Schemes that “If the government pulls the plug on funding,
many local authorities will be unable to afford to make up the
difference at a time when we are tackling the biggest cuts to council
funding in living memory” which will cause three-quarters of councils to
scale back or scrap their schemes;
- Therefore calls for the cuts to local Government funding to be
reversed and for local government to be protected from further cuts to
enable local authorities to provide cherished community services as well
as vital social services such as support for looked-after children,
care-leavers, users of adult social care, older people, homeless people,
low-income families in crisis, disabled people, those with special
educational needs and emergency help to survivors of domestic violence.
Notes
Brighton and Hove singled-out for cuts:
LINK
Leader of Newcastle council decries
impossible cuts and warns of social unrest: LINK
