[metaslider id=72]Recently in Westminster Emma joined Jenny Chapman MP and other MPs from across the North East in a Westminster Hall debate on Local Government funding.
The debate was called in response to the Tories decision to award 83% of the £300 million budget to off-set spending cuts to Tory led councils. The Prime Minister has been accused of buying off Tory MPs threatening to block local government cuts.
The North weren’t given a penny whilst wealthy Southern shires like Surrey, Hampshire and Hertfordshire received the biggest cushion to deal with the next two years of local government austerity, which will see around £6 billion cut in England by 2019.
Emma challenged the government to admit that that the Northern Powerhouse concept was empty rhetoric after a report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation showed that 10 of the UK’s most struggling cities are in the north.
Emma also highlighted that Council spending power per household has fallen by £74 in the South Tyneside Council area, which is significantly higher than the £43 average fall in spending power across English councils as whole.
You can read Emma’s speech here.
Speaking after the debate Emma said
“It was disgraceful to see that not a single Tory MP from the North attended the debate and that the MP for Stockton South James Wharton, the Minster in charge of the “Northern Powerhouse” was nowhere to be seen. It reveals their utter contempt for the North and it shows how cowardly they are when they won’t even account for decisions they have made that see the North again bearing the brunt of Government cuts.”
