MP slams ‘friends and family discount’

NEW MP: Jim McMahon

LOCAL councils will be pushed to breaking point, said Oldham MP Jim McMahon yesterday in a Parliamentary debate on the latest local government financial settlement.

The Oldham West and Royton MP spoke after it emerged that a £300 million relief fund included no aid for Oldham, despite continuing Government cuts.

Analysis by Labour found that 83 per cent of the two-year fund would go to Conservative-run councils with Surrey, Hampshire and Hertfordshire given substantial sums.

Oxfordshire County Council, which covers the Prime Minister David Cameron’s Witney constituency, will receive an extra £9 million.

The five most deprived councils in the country — Middlesbrough, Knowsley, Hull, Liverpool and Manchester — will receive nothing.

Mr McMahon said the latest settlement was a case of offering a “friends and family discount” to Tories, using the example that Tory-run Trafford was the only local authority in Greater Manchester to receive any additional funding.

He added: ““As a councillor for 12 years and a council leader I have witnesses and implemented settlements passed down by this Government and as demand for support increases, more money is being taken away.

“The Government is warned time and time again that removing money will only move costs to other areas.”