Stop Whitehall Grant cut

Do you want council tax to rise by 25%? No, neither do I! So please help!

We're trying to stop national Government from taking £13.6 million out of Kingston Council's budget.

In July, John Prescott published a consultation paper called "Local Government Formula Grant Distribution". It looks at reforming how national Government gives councils their annual grant. You can read the paper here.

The outcome will be critical for Kingston: national grant makes up 60% of our revenue, so directly affects money for schools, social services, roads and the resulting council tax level.

Prescott's consultation has 38 options - 24 cut Kingston's grant. Of the rest, some make little difference. A few help. Meanwhile, councils elsewhere stand to gain - at our expense.

Remember 2 things. If the worst happens, we could end up paying more, for less - whatever Kingston's own councillors do. Second, there's still time to stop this - consultation ends on 30th September.

We're working hard to argue Kingston's case.

For example, while Government classifies us as "east outer London", to stop us getting compensated for high wage costs, we argue we're in "west outer London". Winning that argument alone could get Kingston a net annual gain of £4- £5 million.

To help our campaign, sign the Informer's petition. Write to Prescott.

More information