Labour hits Kingston hard

11.12.02

Government funding plans mean hardship for council

Edward Davey, Liberal Democrat MP for Kingston and Surbiton, has expressed his dismay at the latest local government grant settlement. The Government have cut its funding to Kingston Council in key areas and are forcing service cuts or council tax rises on local residents.

The Government has increased Kingston's grant by 4.1%, which is significantly below the national average of 5.9%. However, there are real term reductions in a number of key areas including highways maintenance and environment and libraries and while education gets a 6% (after inflation) increase the Government has at the same time cut £1.5m from Standards Fund Grants for our local schools.

The only small positive for Kingston is that, following extensive lobbying by Edward Davey MP, Jenny Tonge MP and Council Leader Roger Hayes, the Government has at least recognized that Kingston is in West London, not East. If the local MPs and Council Leader had not run this successful campaign, Kingston would have been about £5m worse off.

Commenting, Mr.Davey said:

"This Labour Government has failed Kingston again.

"With the new Liberal Democrat administration, the Council are doing their best to repair the damage done to Kingston's budgets and services by the chaos of Conservative control.

"But now Labour are throwing a spanner in the ambitious plans our local Liberal Democrats have by presenting us with huge problems locally, with funding cuts on essential services like street cleaning, road repairs and the environment.

"Who can forget John Prescott's dismissal of Kingston as a 'leafy borough'? Now it seems he really does have it in for Kingston."