Sunderland Conservatives defend Government over cash for city after council chiefs' criticism
But the city council’s opposition Conservatives insist handouts to local authorities have been ‘fair’ and urged spending chiefs to dip into savings to plug gaps.
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Hide Ad“The government has bent over backwards to support the British people during the Covid 19 pandemic,” said Coun Robert Oliver, leader of the group.
“But there is no bottomless pit of money and it will have to be paid back by future generations.
“If the Labour leadership of Sunderland council feel that they need more funding then it is up to them to lobby the government, rather than complain and make false comparisons with different parts of the country which are not relevant.”
Early in the COVID-19 crisis, the government announced a £1.6billion fund to support councils, of which Sunderland received almost £10.6million.
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Hide AdThe scheme was later doubled to £3.2billion, but Sunderland’s allocation did not, shrinking to £7.6million in the next round of hand-outs.
Changes to formula calculating grants in the second stage of the scheme saw all 12 North East councils lose out, while local authorities elsewhere gained.
However three of the region’s fire and rescue authorities, which were also included, also saw their shares increase.
Coun Graeme Miller, the leader of Sunderland City Council, said the government had started to ‘quibble’ over funding as councils saw their income fall and costs ‘rocket’.
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Hide AdHe added: “The government pledge that they would pay full costs for councils came from Boris Johnson, the Chancellor and the local government secretary.
“They said, do what we ask and we will cover the costs.
“They gave £3.2billion, Sunderland has received £18 million of that, but in that time the cost to Sunderland has been nearly £28 million.”