As the election campaign gets underway Karen Bradley points out a timely reminder of why we need change in Staffordshire Moorlands as Labour has yet again let down rural areas. Conservative Party research has shown that Labour has "fiddled" local Government funding, taking away resources from rural areas like the Moorlands and instead giving it to cities where they think they can win.
The Communities and Local Government Minister, Barbara Follet this week had to admit in an answer to a written parliamentary question that District councils like Staffordshire Moorlands have lost out on Government spending compared with cities.
District councils received only a 15 percent increase in grants from central government since 1997 compared with a 61 percent increase in metropolitan councils like Stoke on Trent. Counties like Staffordshire also lost out with an increase of 37 percent when unitary councils got 53 percent and London in the rich South East received 41 percent.
This means that central government spending on residents living in district councils like the Moorlands rose only £10 per person from £85 in 1997 to £95 last year and a further £238 in County Council spending - £248 in total in the Moorlands. The metropolitan boroughs, like Stoke-on-Trent went up over £400 from £877 to £1,414.
Karen Bradley, Conservative Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Staffordshire Moorlands, said:
"These figures confirm what many of us have suspected for a long time. Labour has neglected rural areas like Staffordshire Moorlands and spent our taxes in the places it thinks it can win elections. Those of us living in Staffordshire Moorlands have lost out financially thanks to Labour's deliberate policies that redirect funding away from us. We need to move decision making on how money is spent away from Whitehall and back to local councillors. We need greater transparency on the way in which councils are funded, so the public can make informed choices at the ballot box on whether their council has delivered value for money."
Councillor Sybil Ralphs (pictured here with Karen and David Cameron), Leader of Staffordshire Moorlands District Council, added:
"For the past two years we received the worst government settlement for decades. It went down to an unrealistic 1% and 0.5% - that was deliberate action by Labour against Conservative controlled local authorities. We were faced with three immediate options; council tax increases, stringent cuts in services, and/or staff redundancies. But we found a way to make the money go further with our working partnership with High Peak Borough Council.
By sharing services and senior management posts, we are already making considerable savings, which are not only necessary, but in these recessionary times, absolutely vital. Other Authorities are now following our lead and looking at shared services etc between authorities.
In addition to these deliberate cuts by Labour, we have had to undertake additional government directed responsibilities, such as licensing, but without any additional funding to compensate."