This week the Government announced its police and local government finance settlements, which set out funding plans for the next financial year. Yet again, it’s more bad news for our city.
Birmingham has already suffered the biggest cuts in local government history approaching £700 million. To make matters worse, the Government have failed again to address the £100 million that our city is owed due to unfairness in the way local government funding has been allocated by the Conservative Government. The reality of this is less money for vital services in Birmingham like children’s services and adult social care. I raised this issue with Ministers in the House of Commons this week.
Our Police will not receive a single extra penny from the Government either. West Midlands Police have lost over 2,000 officers since 2010 and recorded crime is up 14%. In fact West Midlands Police need an extra £22 million just to stand still so this week’s announcement means another real-terms cut for our Police service.
It is no surprise that people in our city feel let down. I will continue to demand that our city gets a fairer funding deal.
