Yesterday, Andrew Rosindell M.P., Member of Parliament for Romford, made an intervention on local government finance and funding, conveying the discontent of his constituents in Havering.
A fairer funding settlement that reflects Havering's demographics, is needed so that our basic services can operate.
What does the Minister say to residents of the London borough of Havering, who have had a very poor settlement over many decades under all Governments? We have one of the oldest populations in London and also one of the youngest populations in London, so the settlements never take into account the factors that I have outlined. Will he please look at the outer London boroughs? It seems to me that all the money goes to inner London, and we do not get very much in places such as Romford.
Andrew Rosindell M.P., Member of Parliament for Romford
Where we can agree is that we accept that the old perspective that there are inner-London pressures that do not feature in the outer-London boroughs might have held in the past but it does not address the complexity that there is today, because a number of pressures have moved outwards into those outer boroughs. I think that that is accepted and appreciated. I said that this might not be a perfect settlement, but it is a good settlement. The hon. Gentleman’s council has a 6.5% increase in its core spending power. So there is room there—this is not a flat cash settlement—and we hope that the local authority will make the necessary decisions.
We are not interested in scoring party political points or pitting one council against another. We know that councils of all political stripes are struggling, and we want to work together, through the later reforms that we are looking at as part of the more structural review we are undertaking, to make sure that we genuinely address that. We hope that when Members across the House look at the rationale and the evidence base—whether they agree with the quantum is a separate issue—they can at least say that it holds. That is the work that we are undertaking today, and we encourage Members to contribute to the process.
Jim McMahon O.B.E. M.P., Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution
