Responding to last week’s local government finance announcement Labour’s Cllr Jason Fojtik demanded a fair deal for Warwickshire

“The chaos and incompetence at the heart of this Conservative Government is causing real problems for families in Stratford on Avon. Our NHS is on its knees, crime goes unpunished, and like all local authorities, our services are being put under intolerable pressure by ministers’ refusal to accept reality. Here in Stratford on Avon, we are receiving £6.56m less support at the District, and £112.6m less support from central government than we did under Labour – and our overall spending power has fallen by 14% across the District and 11% across the County.

“Now, just days before councils set the most difficult budget in years, and many months after the cross-party LGA warned that soaring demand for social care and temporary accommodation was posing an existential risk to council budgets, the government has finally backtracked on its catastrophic Local Government Finance Settlement for 2024/25 and announced some extra funding – but it’s just more sticking plaster politics.

“Our area is still not getting a fair deal – not fair for those who rely on our services and not fair in comparison to other parts of the country. This comes from a Prime Minister who promised Tory activists he would take money away from areas in need and give it to richer areas as a bribe to win their votes.”

“This emergency hand-out is an admission of total failure from an increasingly chaotic Conservative government, who have pushed so many local councils to breaking point, a policy started during the coalition with the Liberal Democrats and continued since.”

“What we need is a Labour government with a proper plan to fix the country’s problems fix our public services and bring economic stability. We need a General Election Now.  Only Labour can remove the Tories from power.  A vote for any other party keeps the Tories in Downing Street.”