Davey seeks meeting with Prescott

4.09.02

MP takes up Kingston's grant case with Deputy PM

Edward Davey, Lib Dem MP for Kingston and Surbiton, has this week written to John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, to request a meeting over government proposals to reform the system of local authority grants. (see letter attached)

A Government consultation paper published earlier this year contains a range of options which would affect the grant Kingston Council receives from central Government - and therefore the quality of local services and the level of the local council tax. Kingston stands to lose out from 24 of the 38 options contained in the paper, which also categorises Kingston as being in "outer East London", thereby reducing Kingston's grant.

MP Edward Davey has been campaigning hard with Kingston Council to argue Kingston's case and is now seeking a face-to-face meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister.

Commenting, Edward Davey said:

"It's vital we put over a reasonable, well-argued case. I believe Kingston has a strong case - especially following on from a number of years of poor grant settlements for the Borough.

"I and my colleagues will be sending in a formal written response which will go into some detail.

"However, it is vital to try every means at our disposal to protect local people from what would happen if our grant is cutback.

"I believe a face-to-face meeting with John Prescott could help and I hope he's prepared to grant one."

Letter to John Prescott

Rt Hon John Prescott MP
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
Dover House
Whitehall
London SW1A 2AU

30th August 2002

Request for meeting as input to consultation on: "Local Government Finance: Formula Grant Distribution"

Since the publication of the above consultation paper, I have been working with my colleagues on Kingston Council both to understand its implications and to see how we can respond constructively to this consultation.

We welcome the fact that the Government is committed to consultation on these matters and recognise that this is an extremely difficult exercise. However, as you can imagine, we have a number of profound concerns about some of the options canvassed in the consultation paper.

Kingston Council will be responding formally in writing within the next few weeks. However, in anticipation of your receipt of that written input, I wondered if it might be possible to arrange a brief meeting so I and my colleagues locally can make a more informal and oral presentation to you personally.

I recognise this is an unusual request but I only make it because of the extent of our concerns around some of the options. While the written formal submission will make these clear, we think a personal presentation will enable you to understand our position more directly.

Our main underlying context is that Kingston is very different from the image some people have of it. The Borough is far from homogeneously prosperous: for example, in a recent analysis of the top 50 constituencies, ranked by the percentage of people on incomes above £60,000, my constituency of Kingston and Surbiton did not appear, and it makes up three quarters of Kingston Borough. On the contrary, we have some pockets of real deprivation and many areas of very modest means.

Yet, if a combination of options set out in the consultation paper were all chosen, Kingston could stand to lose grant income equivalent to around 10% of its total budget.

I would therefore be extremely grateful if we could arrange to meet either in late September or just after the formal consultation period closes, in early October.

Thank you for your consideration.

Yours sincerely,



Edward Davey MP