Local government sets out wish list as Conservatives win big

Prime minister Boris Johnson’s decisive general election victory has prompted leading local government voices to underscore the pressing finance issues the government must address.

The Conservatives secured a significant 80-seat majority in Thursday’s vote, clearing the way for the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill to progress through parliament towards a January 31 Brexit date.

3rd LATIF NORTH
March 25th, 2020, Manchester
Council treasury investment & borrowing

Johnson’s commanding position will also allow him to embark on domestic reform programmes without the need to rely on cross-party support or even the backing of all Conservative MPs.

The Local Government Association, the Local Government Information Unit (LGIU), and the County Councils Network (CCN) all flagged the importance of rapid action in terms of clarifying the 2020/21 local government finance settlement.

Last month, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government confirmed that the 2020/21 local government finance settlement would be an issue for whichever party held power after the general election. But the department said it expected considering the provisional settlement would be a “priority”.

LGA chair James Jamieson said prioritising the publication of the provisional settlement ought to mean it was one of the government’s “first priorities” and that it should be put out before parliament rises for the Christmas recess.

“This is absolutely vital to give councils the certainty and time they need to plan how to provide the vital local services our communities rely on next year,” he said.

LGIU chief executive Jonathan Carr-West said a combination of uncertainty about long-term funding from the end of next year and a lack of detail on the 2020/2021 settlement meant councils were “left in limbo” in funding terms.

“Brexit isn’t the only unfinished business for this new government,” he said.

“Local authority finances are in a dire state after a decade of cuts with councils up and down the country struggling to keep basic statutory services going.”

CCN chair David Williams said the provisional settlement had to be published “immediately so councils could crystallise their budgets and plans for the coming financial year”.

CIPFA chief executive officer Rob Whiteman said the new government needed to take swift action to set public services back on a sustainable financial path.

“The Conservative Party has promised to deliver a budget within its first 100 days in government, which will be a critical first step,” he said.

“A timely budget followed by a Spending Review fully costed for the long term is desperately needed to give local authorities, the NHS and other public services funding certainty that is long overdue.”

Whiteman said the new government needed to set out how the public sector would be supported to ensure that services did not suffer as a result of the UK’s decision to leave the European Union.

LGA chair Jamieson is a Conservative councillor and leader of Central Bedfordshire Council. He said that after prioritising the publication of the provisional financial settlement, work to find cross-party consensus on a long-term sustainable funding solution for adult social care had to “begin at pace and without delay”.

“The Queen’s Speech needs to reignite the process of handing widespread powers and funding to local areas so all parts of England can improve services such as housing, transport, and health and social care,” he said.

“The government has said we need to get away from ‘Whitehall knows best’. We agree. Empowering councils will make a huge difference to the lives of their residents and the communities where they live by creating more school spaces, building more homes, boosting economic growth, improving our roads and equipping people with the skills they need to succeed.”

David Williams, who chairs the CCN and is leader of Hertfordshire County Council, called on the government to ensure counties received the resources they needed by ensuring the Fair Funding Review proceeds and is enacted in 2021.

“Boris Johnson’s majority government has been elected on a domestic pledge to ‘level-up’ the ‘left-behind’ parts of the country,” said Williams, who is a Conservative councillor.

“While counties are great places to live and work, we must not forget that many of those areas are located within counties, from deprived rural and coastal communities, to former manufacturing hotbeds, to places where young people leave to go to university and never return.

“The left-behind nature of many of these places are partly a product of resource and policy being overly London centric and city focused.”

Williams supported the LGA call for rapid progress with a social-care funding overhaul.

“The options for reform are well understood and this is too important an issue for our society for it to be continually politicised,” he said.

He added that the Conservatives’ next-phase devolution proposals – originally contained in October’s Queen’s Speech – should set out an ambitious offer to the shires, with “the same powers and levers” afforded to urban metro mayors.

“The promised devolution white paper must set out this level of flexibility, while it must embrace the key role county authorities play in enabling regional growth,” he said.

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