GOVERNMENT MUST GIVE CORNWALL WHAT IT IS DUE

9.18.14am GMT Wed 12th Dec 2007

Cornish MPs are urging the Government to give Cornwall its full entitlement of central government funding. Ministers say they will hold back an 8% block of Cornish money to help out wealthier authorities.

Following today's Local Government Finance statement Andrew George, MP for the West Cornwall and Isles of Scilly constituency of St Ives, called on the Local Government Minister, the Rt. Hon. John Healey MP, to clarify how much money would be withheld from Cornwall and for how long it could be forced to bail out richer parts of the country, through what Mr George believes to be an arcane system referred to by the Government as the "damping mechanism".

MPs are calling on the Minister to at least give Cornwall what they say the County Council should have; i.e. a central Government grant of £149,355 million. Last year the Council had over £10 million withdrawn from its grant so that the impact of lower grants to richer areas could be "dampened".

This year it seems that this withdrawal will be increased rather than decreased to more than £16m. The MPs argue that Cornwall already receives much lower than average funding to provide, for example, education, fire cover and adult social care; services which should, if anything, receive higher than average funding because of the insularity of Cornwall.

Mr George said

"No one should be hoodwinked by this announcement. Though the settlement to Cornwall County Council is better than the last time, the grants to the districts are not good news, and overall Cornish funding is still a very long way short of the average.

North Cornwall's MP, Dan Rogerson, added

"The Government gives with one hand and rapidly takes away with the other. On top of the recent schools funding blow, today's was another smoke and mirrors announcement, which will once again leave Cornwall scraping to provide basic services.

"Meanwhile, the only mechanism available for councils to get further funding for vital services is the hated Council Tax, which hits the poorest hardest. It's high time that tax was scrapped and replaced with a fair tax, based on the ability to pay."