Northern mayors sound alarm on council funding crisis and call for emergency Budget intervention

In a joint press conference at the Convention of the North in Leeds, Andy Burnham, Tracy Brabin and Oliver Coppard were among the regional mayors sounding the alarm on the state of local government finances.

It came after Michael Gove had announced extended powers for Ms Brabin and Mr Coppard in West and South Yorkshire at the event.

But while welcoming the extension of control over budgets for areas such as skills, transport and housing for the two areas, as well as the Liverpool City Region, mayors said councils which are the foundation of local democracy are increasingly at risk of collapse.

Earlier this week, the Government approved effective loans totalling almost £2.5bn for 19 struggling councils. It included £220 million for Bradford City Council.

The Local Government Association separately said that councils are facing a collective £4bn funding gap black hole in their budgets for the next two years.

Mr Burnham said: “Over the last 14 years, central government has treated local government appallingly, cutting it back and back year after year.

"If the foundation on which English devolution is built – local government in England – collapses, that will pull down English devolution with it. It is time for people to wake up to this risk. It is time for the Chancellor to address this directly in his Budget next week.

"If he concludes his statement without offering anything for councils across England who are struggling to cope, then his Budget will be a failure because that will leave communities across England at risk of seeing services going backwards, roads with more potholes, and that is not a foundation upon which English devolution can be built.”

Mr Coppard welcomed the extra powers for his combined authority but agreed with concerns about local government finance.

"Unless there is a proper settlement for public transport and unless local government finance is sorted, the work we are doing is never going to be enough,” he said.

Ms Brabin said part of the problem facing councils is short-term funding settlements.

"It is short-term, there are cliff edges and people can’t plan,” she said.

She said she believes the Labour national leadership has an “understanding” of the challenge.

"I think they will work with local authorities to make sure that we get a better deal,” she said.

North of Tyne mayor Jamie Driscoll, who was elected for Labour but is now an independent, said both the Tories and Labour need to make commitments. He said his former party has made “no promise” to provide the necessary funding for local government.

Speaking on stage later in the day at the event, Shadow Levelling Up Secretary Angela Rayner would not directly commit to how Labour would specifically fund local government finance but said: “We need more long-term funding settlements and we need to stop what I call a Dragons’ Den approach to little pots of money that councils have been spending millions on pitching for bits and bobs of money.”

Earlier in the day, Mr Gove was challenged by event host Clive Myrie on cuts to council funding.

He said a reassessment of how local government is financed is needed as councils increasingly spend large proportions of their budgets on statutory services such as social care. Mr Gove said the Government has provided “exceptional financial support” to struggling councils.

He added: “Some local authorities have got into difficulty potentially because of poor management. There are also examples of local leadership doing amazing things in admittedly tough circumstances."