Davey Blasts Government over Cut in Kingston's Council Grant

10.47.23am UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 7th Feb 2007

Labour Ministers were last week taken to task by Kingston and Surbiton's MP, Edward Davey, when he slammed the Government over cuts to Kingston's Council Grant during a House of Commons debate on the Local Government Finance Report.

In an intervention on the Minister during the debate, Edward argued that with inflation at 4.4%, a rise in Kingston's Grant of only 1.9% meant a huge real terms cut. Commenting Edward said:

"Under both Conservative and Labour, Kingston has had a raw deal in terms of grants from Whitehall.

"Since our grant is so low, RBK must meet 68% of its budget from council tax, whereas the average London Borough only has to meet 42% of its budget from council tax.

"If Kingston received a similar grant to the average London borough, our council tax would be the lowest in London! If we received the same grant per resident that Hammersmith and Fulham receives, we could cut council tax by 80%!

Following the debate Edward Davey has applied for a special debate to focus purely on the unfairness that Kingston suffers, so he can raise (again) the fundamental flaw to the grant given to Kingston Council, which determines local spending and taxation.[1][1]