PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
Adequacy of local government funding (14 December 2020)

That this House is opposed to a new phase of austerity; believes that the Government must adequately fund local authorities to avoid disastrous social consequences; recognises that covid-19 is further stretching councils that are already under-funded and under-staffed following a decade of austerity; calls on the Government to honour its commitment to fund councils fully for the extra costs of dealing with the pandemic, and the losses of revenue resulting from lock-down; believes that local authority debt held by the Public Works Loan Board as an emergency measure should be cancelled to provide councils with an extra £4.5 billion spending power a year and help to stabilise their finances; encourages the Government to begin urgent discussions on a funding system based on an annual assessment of social needs in each locality; and calls on the Government to provide £10 billion annual grant to fund building 100,000 council homes a year, which is necessary not only to address the acute housing crisis but will provide economic stimulus as we come out of the pandemic by putting people back to work.

Sponsored by:
Claudia Webbe (Independent)