Leader responds to Autumn Budget and Spending Review

Published Thursday 28 October 2021 at 10:37

Mohammed Khan CBE, Leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council, has responded to the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget and Spending Review.

He said:

We will be digesting the detail over the coming days and weeks and await more information on the government grant funding announced for councils.

Whilst I welcome the additional funding announced for local government, I remain unconvinced that this will be enough to address the scale of the problem facing local authorities like ours. Nor will it undo the damage caused by over a decade’s worth of cuts to the Council’s budget and less investment from central government than more wealthy areas.

The Covid-19 pandemic further exposed the persistent structural inequalities in education, employment, health and housing that exist in our borough – placing extra cost and demand for local public services on us.

We need a settlement that will properly recognise the critical importance of local government to communities, the vital role councils like ours have played throughout the pandemic, as well as the ongoing support our vulnerable people and communities need.

We also need Government to not rely on expecting local authorities to keep increasing council tax to pay for adult social care, for which there was no extra funding announced and still no long-term solution. A proper plan for social care is needed desperately to reflect the levels of need, help develop a sustainable care sector and ensure parity between health and care.

Levelling Up needs to be sustained and meaningful with fair access for all if it is to be more than a political slogan and a handful of headline-grabbing infrastructure projects. We must be given the funds and powers we need locally to close the gap on health, inequality and opportunity, one that has widened during austerity and the pandemic.

I wrote a letter to the Chancellor recently on behalf of our residents about the decision to cancel the Universal Credit uplift and so the partial U-turn announced in the budget is welcome as is the increase in national living wage. But it doesn’t go far enough and will not make up for the wider cuts to universal credit leaving people in our borough who are unable to work, or are looking for work, worse off and working people continuing to suffer through rising inflation, previously announced national insurance increases and the cost of living crisis.

The Chancellor’s budget also failed to adequately address the challenges of the climate crisis, possibly the biggest threat facing all of us and one that is likely to disproportionately affect those worse off in society.

I remain proud of how our Council has responded to the tough times, especially over the last eighteen months of the pandemic. We have kept essential services going, protected the most vulnerable and have continued delivering for our residents and businesses. I will continue to fight for a fair settlement for Blackburn with Darwen so this special place and its truly special people get what they deserve.

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