8 February (Part 1) - Government grant. “Nirvana never arrived”
There was a Finance Scrutiny meeting last Wednesday and like all the recent
Scrutiny meetings it was commendably short. Is this the Council running things
down before their possible demise in May? Regular Chairman Andy Dourmoush was
absent and said to be recovering after a stay in hospital. I am sure all readers
will wish him well. His place was taken by Councillor Howard Jackson. (Barnehurst.)
As one might expect from a Finance meeting the first Agenda item was the
draft 2026/27 budget.To ask a question the sole purpose of which is to allow a
Cabinet Member to pontificateIt is the sort if thing usually reserved for tame lapdogs
at Full Council meetings, but the substitute Chairman did exactly that. Presumably by
prior arrangement with the Cabinet Member for Resources. “What
will the new local Government funding settlement do for Bexley and if Bexley was
funded at the London average how would it affect how much money we got.”
This is fairly pathetic schoolboy stuff but the Council Leader was ready
to deliver the appropriate well rehearsed speech.
“It is a very bad settlement for Bexley, the Government has let our borough
down. We are down over the medium term and our share of the national pot is
reduced and the Revenue Support Grant is cut. Well over a million pounds down,
more if inflation is factored in. There is an increase across Local Government
[nationally] but Bexley is not getting any of it. Per capita we currently get about £401
[from Government] with a London average of £642 and this will move to £396 and
£694.” He went on to say that Bexley is being short-changed by about £77 million over the grant period.
Councillor June Slaughter (Conservative, Sidcup) said that the MP for
Bexleyheath and Crayford has been claiming that the borough is getting about £43
million more. She said she was reluctant to call it a lie (but it looks like
one). The Leader David Leaf said he was shocked by the MP’s claim. It is concocted
by a comparison of the situation two years ago with that in three year’s time. An obvious
deceptive spin. In any case £38 million of it will come from Council Taxpayers
and some of the rest is the additional funding offered to cover some of the
National Insurance Contribution increases. In other words the £43 million is
pretty much a headline grabbing lie. “It demonstrates the financial illiteracy
of Labour politicians. The £4 billion Social Care grant [promised by the
Government] was dropped from the final settlement.”
Labour Leader Stefano Borella said that the three year settlement was better
than the Conservatives’ one year settlements because it provided “certainty” and
the grant system has been “simplified”. “I would argue that the Labour
Government has provided an uplift because at least we know where we are.”
Councillor David Leaf said that simplification did not provide additional funds
and even where there are small transitional increases in funding it is not enough to cover inflation.
Councillor Leaf said he had lobbied the Secretary of State for fairer funding for
Bexley and asked the Labour Leader to do the same. He declined the invitation.
Councillor Cheryl Bacon (Conservative, Sidcup) covered much the same ground as the Leader. Whatever the
Labour spin [“dishonesty” according to David Leaf] it doesn’t produce more money and despite the promises, “Nirvana never arrived”.
The MP for Bexleyheath and Crayford is ְ“woeful” and David Leaf reminded us that
he actually “campaigned to have money taken away from Bexley”.