Reacting to the government’s financial settlement for local government, Green Party co leader Adrian Ramsay MP said:
“The funding settlement is barely enough to keep councils ticking over. It does very little to ease the underlying financial stresses that local authorities are facing after years of rising costs around social care, special educational needs and reduced government grants.
“The government’s planning reforms and stated intentions for local government re-organisation mean stripping local people of a democratic say in how local services are delivered, while this latest funding round deprives councils of the means to deliver quality services for all.
“We need a real change in local government finances that enables councils to use money raised from those with the broadest shoulders to deliver quality services that people need and want.
The government have also brought out a White Paper on Devolution and the re-organisation of local government.
Green Party MP Ellie Chowns said:
“There is much to be welcomed in this White Paper including strengthening the rights of communities to purchase cherished local assets such as youth clubs, libraries or sport facilities; increasing powers over control of local transport, better alignment of public services including police, health and probation and removing the need for government to sign off decisions for locally specific things like cycle lanes.
“The big gap is the democratic deficit in Labour’s plans. This risks being devolution that steals power away from local people. We have to ask, how will local communities get heard? And who will hold mayors to account?
“We need to keep the local in local government. That means decision making as close as possible to the people most impacted; it involves trusting local communities to know what is best for them and supporting them with investment to deliver real change. And true democracy must include a fair proportional voting system for local elections, which seems to be a glaring omission from this White Paper.”
Promoted by Jan Davis on behalf of Broadland Green Party, a constituent party of the Green Party of England & Wales PO Box 78066, London, SE16 9GQ