Responding to this week’s local government finance announcement, South Cambs Labour Party’s local government spokesperson Luke Viner demanded a fair deal for Cambridgeshire.

“The chaos and incompetence at the heart of this Conservative Government is causing real problems for families in Cambridgeshire. Our NHS is on its knees, crime goes unpunished, and like all local authorities, our services are being put under intolerable pressure by ministers refusal to accept reality. We are receiving £7.39M less support from central government in South Cambridgeshire in real terms than we did under Labour, and overall spending power has fallen by 19%.

“Now, just days before councils set the most difficult budget in years, and many months after the cross party LGA warned that soaring demand for social care and temporary accommodation was posing an existential risk to council budgets, the government has finally backtracked on its catastrophic Local Government Finance Settlement for 2024/25 and announced some extra funding – but it’s just more sticking plaster politics.

“Our area is still not getting a fair deal – not fair for those who rely on our services and not fair in comparison to other parts of the country. This comes from a Prime Minister who promised Tory activists he would take money away from areas in need and give it to richer areas as a bribe to win their votes.

“The bottom line is that this emergency hand-out is an admission of total failure from an increasingly chaotic Conservative government that has sole responsibility for pushing so many local councils to breaking point over the last 14 years.

“What we really need is a government that has a proper plan. Our country needs the security and stability that only a new Labour government can deliver. The only real solution is a General Election now.”