Jon Trickett MP Labour’s Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary, responding to the Local Government Finance provisional settlement, said:

“The message of this settlement is the same as every other one under the Tories: cuts, cuts and more cuts.

“This settlement reduces the central Government grant to local government by more than half and doesn’t acknowledge the additional spending pressures on Local government finances which amount to double the total amount Local Government is to receive from Whitehall.

“These cuts are a political choice and not an economic necessity. The House of Commons Library have calculated that if the central government grant was maintained at the same level throughout this Parliament the Government would still be running a surplus of £4 billion in 2019/2020. Therefore there is no fiscal need for these cuts.

“Also, local authorities in deprived areas have seen cuts of £220 per head, compared to £40 per head in more affluent areas. It is clear that the Tory’s ideology is to hit the worse off hardest.”