Slough Lib Dems back calls to urgently close the £4bn funding gap in local government

Slough’s Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate, Chelsea Whyte, who was at the conference, welcomed the motion and noted the significance of persistent underfunding in Slough.

Commenting on the passing of the motion, Chelsea said “Politically, Slough tends to go against most national trends. But one trend that Slough leads the way on is having an insolvent council. This is a trend in its infancy, but it is one that threatens the lives and livelihoods of so many if not tackled urgently.

“The motion is particularly welcomed in Slough and the five other councils which are already feeling the most severe cuts to services and higher Council Tax rises. This is a result of the previous failures of local councillors who have made national underfunding even worse by making reckless investment decisions and mismanaging council finances.

“In Slough we've learnt that Labour politicians can never be trusted to run the council because they might take it back to a state of insolvency. In the local elections last year, the voters of Slough used their votes to kick Labour out of control of the Council and elect three fantastic new Lib Dem Councillors for the first time in over 10 years.

“But this funding crisis won’t be solved overnight. That’s why we need more Lib Dems elected to both local councils and Parliament to implement policies that urgently address this looming catastrophe.

“Slough recently received a portion of the Government’s levelling up funding. And while this is great for the small local area it will help to improve, it doesn’t fundamentally change the financial position the council finds itself in. So I particularly support the reference to the inadequacies of the government’s levelling up funding in the motion, because levelling up funding is simply an inefficient way to support local initiatives. The money should instead be put towards keeping council taxes down and delivering quality public services.

“So, I am really pleased to see our party back this motion, because places like Slough matter. They must stop being let down by Conservative cuts and Labour incompetence.”