Shropshire Star

Shropshire MPs back council funding bill after £2.3m secured for county services

Shrewsbury MP Daniel Kawczynski said he decided not to vote against the local government finance bill after more money was offered to Shropshire Council.

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Daniel Kawczynski voted with the Government after threatening to rebel

The Conservative had threatened to vote against last night's bill over concerns about Shropshire Council's financial situation, but said £2.3million of extra money offered by the government had persuaded him to support his party.

Every Shropshire MP, aside from injured Owen Paterson, voted in favour of the bill in the House of Commons last night.

However, the bill, which provides funding for councils across the country, has been criticised by Telford & Wrekin's Labour administration, which warned it could lead to "harsher consequences" for the borough's residents as it looks to make millions of pounds of cuts.

Ahead of the vote, Mr Kawczynski said: "I am supporting the government this evening as I have secured an extra £2.3 million for Shropshire on top of their additional grant increases this year.

"My campaign to ensure the funding formula is reformed to take into account rural areas pressure such as adult social care continues."

Ludlow MP Philip Dunne said he was also voting to support the government, and that the promise of a consultation on how councils are funded was one of the key reasons.

He said: "I am pleased the government has made moves to improve the situation for Shropshire which will get £2 and a 1/4 million more than planned next year and I will be supporting the government, particularly because it has launched a consultation into fairer funding and I have had assurances that will lead to proposals for the next spending review which will hopefully help rural areas have fairer funding in future."

However, Telford & Wrekin Council leader Shaun Davies said his authority would need to make £30 million of extra cuts in coming years.

He said: "Since 2010, this council has already had to make budget savings of £110 million. Based on the proposal before parliament, by 2022 we estimate that we would have to find around another £30 million budget savings. Future cuts that will be very hard to find and have ever harsher consequences on local people.

"Despite this, in order to meet demand and the needs of local people, we need to invest an extra £2.2 million more into adult social care next year – more than we’ll raise from our proposed 3.2 per cent increase in council tax."