Leicestershire County Council leader Nick Rushton said: “I welcome the Government’s decision to provide almost £7 million in additional support for Leicestershire over the next two years.
“This shows that ministers have listened to the case that I presented, along with our MPs, to the minister last month. It’s a real breakthrough and I would like to thank all our MPs for their fantastic support.
“Clearly, we have more to do - the county council has to make more than £70 million of savings over the next four years. But the Government has committed to have a fair funding review and I am hopeful that we can work together to make further progress.”
Alberto Costa, MP for South Leicestershire, said: “My colleagues and I succeeded in gaining more money from Government for Leicestershire. I warmly welcome the acknowledgement from the Secretary of State yesterday, that the council has continued to deliver excellent services for its residents. The fact that this has been delivered in the face of some challenging budget pressures, is testament to the leadership and all of the staff.
“Whilst we all recognise the need for further efficiency savings across government to reduce our national deficit, Leicestershire has suffered from years of low funding and we very much welcome the news of a fair funding review, to hopefully erase the inequalities within the current system.”
Andrew Bridgen, MP for North West Leicestershire, said: “I very much welcome this announcement by the Secretary of State. I have been fighting for fairer funding for Leicestershire since I was first elected. I am pleased that the inequality in our funding is at last being addressed.
“It cannot be right that Leicestershire gets punished for running an efficient council and this extra funding will safeguard the local services so many of us rely on.”
ENDS
Notes
LCC will receive £3.31m in 2016/17 & £3.31m in 2017/18 in additional transitional grant funding from central government (source: DCLG)
DCLG Secretary Greg Clark MP has announced a Fair Funding Review, the first in nearly 10 years into the current formula, addressing a key concern raised by Nick Rushton and MPs in their meeting with Marcus Jones MP.