Local Government Funding

Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top Excerpts

Wednesday 8th July 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

There are quite a few, my Lords. If my noble friend has concerns about that, I share them.

[Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top (Lab)]

My Lords, will the Minister rethink what she has being saying? It is not that local government has been dependent on grant, but that the Government have stopped it from raising any further money locally and cut the grant. Also, areas that she and I know very well have lost in the reassessment of the deprivation index. Those are still the areas that have the most people who are the most vulnerable. Will the Government be honest and fair and recognise that there is need out there? Yes, there needs to be more local decision-making, but there also needs to be fairness across the country and a recognition that we need to work more effectively with local government to ensure that those services enable their people to deal with a global problem.