LGA Labour Group Local Government Association | 18 Smith Square | London SW1P 3HZ

The Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP Prime Minister Office of the Prime Minister 10 Downing Street London SW1A 2AA 25 

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 July 2019 Dear Prime Minister,  As Labour council leaders we run councils that millions of citizens rely on to deliver good quality public services - protecting vulnerable children and older people, keeping streets clean, and running much-loved parks and libraries. But since 2010 our funding from government has been cut by more than 60p in every £1 we  previously received, and many council budgets have now reached breaking point. Hundreds of thousands of hard-working council staff who deliver our services have lost the equivalent of £1 of every £5 they earned before, and are now the lowest paid in the public sector. Adult social care is crumbling, more children are being taken into care than ever before, and there is a dire shortage of council housing. In each of the last few years the only response from the government has been to produce sticking plasters

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 small short-term pots of money

designed merely to paper over the cracks for another year. This can’t go on.

 In your campaign to become our new Prime Minister you claimed that you would bring our country together. There is no better way for you to prove that this was more than empty rhetoric than by truly ending austerity in local government. No more sticking plasters - we need a serious long term re-investment to ensure a sustainable future for councils. Therefore as Labour Council leaders we are calling on you to:

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Immediately invest £2bn in children’s services and £2bn in adult social care to

stop these vital emergency services from collapsing

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Reverse the changes to the council funding formula that have forced the biggest cuts on to councils in the most deprived areas

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Pledge to use the Spending Review to restore council funding to 2010 levels over the next four years

We would welcome the opportunity to discuss this with you. Yours sincerely, Cllr Nick Forbes - Leader of the LGA Labour Group and Newcastle City Council Cllr Louise Gittins

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 Leader, Cheshire West and Chester Council Cllr Chris Read

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 Leader, Rotherham Council Cllr Judith Blake

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 Leader, Leeds City Council Cllr Danny Thorpe

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 Leader, Royal Borough of Greenwich Cllr Sharon Taylor

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 Leader, Stevenage Borough Council

 

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Cllr Sir Richard Leese

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 Leader, Manchester City Council Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe

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 Leader, Bradford Council Mayor Joe Anderson

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 Mayor, Liverpool City Council Cllr Steve Curran

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 Leader, Hounslow Council Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz

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 Mayor, Newham Council Cllr Graham Morgan

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 Leader, Knowsley Council Cllr Richard Watts

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 Leader, Islington Council Cllr Sir Steve Houghton

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 Leader, Barnsley Council Cllr Simon Henig

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 Leader, Durham County Council Cllr Ian Moran

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 Leader, West Lancashire Borough Council Cllr Nesil Caliskan

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 Leader, Enfield Council Cllr Rob Polhill

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 Leader, Halton Council Cllr Richard Metcalfe

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 Leader, City of Lincoln Council Cllr Alyson Barnes

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 Leader, Rossendale Borough Council Cllr Tom Beattie

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 Leader, Corby Borough Council Cllr Debbie Wilcox

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 Leader, Newport City Council Cllr Lewis Herbert

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 Leader, Cambridge City Council Cllr Georgia Gould

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 Leader, Camden Council Cllr David Molyneux

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 Leader, Wigan Council Mayor Marvin Rees

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 Mayor, Bristol City Council Cllr Clare Coghill

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 Leader, Waltham Forest Council Cllr Simon Blackburn

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 Leader, Blackpool Council Cllr Shaun Davies

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 Leader, Telford & Wrekin Council Cllr Tricia Gilby

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 Leader, Chesterfield Borough Council Cllr Mohammed Iqbal

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 Leader, Pendle Borough Council Cllr Ann Thompson

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 Leader, Barrow Borough Council Cllr Miles Parkinson

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 Leader, Hyndburn Borough Council Cllr Mohammed Khan

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 Leader, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council Mayor Norma Redfearn

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 Mayor, North Tyneside Council Mayor Paul Dennett

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 Mayor, Salford City Council Cllr Christopher Hammond

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 Leader, Southampton City Council Cllr Muhammed Butt

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 Leader, Brent Council Cllr Ian Ward

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 Leader, Birmingham City Council Cllr Julie Jackson

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 Leader, Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council Cllr Darren Rodwell

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 Leader, Barking and Dagenham Council Cllr John Clarke

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 Leader, Gedling Borough Council Cllr Erica Lewis

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 Leader, Lancaster City Council Cllr Peter Chowney

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 Leader, Hastings Borough Council Cllr Graeme Miller

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 Leader, Sunderland City Council Mayor Ros Jones

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 Mayor, Doncaster Council Cllr Steve Siddons

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 Leader, Scarborough Borough Council Cllr Tudor Evans

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 Leader, Plymouth City Council Cllr Julie Dore

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 Leader, Sheffield City Council Cllr Neil Moore

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 Leader, Vale of Glamorgan Council Cllr David Poole

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 Leader, Caerphilly Council Cllr Peter Box

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 Leader, Wakefield Council Cllr Chris Emmas-Williams

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 Leader, Amber Valley Borough Council Cllr Sean Fielding

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 Leader, Oldham Council Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby

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 Mayor, Leicester City Council Cllr Russ Bowden

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 Leader, Warrington Borough Council Cllr Bob Cook

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 Leader, Stockton on Tees Borough Council Cllr Iain Malcolm

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 Leader, South Tyneside Council Cllr Peter Lamb

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 Leader, Crawley Borough Council Cllr Shabir Pandor

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 Leader, Kirklees Council Cllr Jack Hopkins

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 Leader, Lambeth Council