Local Government Funding: North-west England

I beg to move,

That this House has considered funding for local government in the North West.

It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Mr Turner. I thank the Minister for being here today.

I will start by reading the words of Stuart, who lives in my Cheadle constituency, and who wrote to me just two days ago—a timely admission for this debate. He said:

“I am writing as a resident of Cheadle Hulme to express my deep concern about the level of council tax and the prospect of further increases. My current council tax is £275 per month...This level is already difficult to sustain, and any further rise will make it unmanageable for many working households like mine. I understand that a large proportion of council spending now goes toward adult and children’s social care, but the current trajectory feels unsustainable without fundamental reform or additional central government support.”

Stuart is right: the current situation is completely unsustainable, and I am sure Members here today will agree that it cannot go on.

I am sure we all entered politics to effect change—campaigning to keep a school open, fundraising for a library or creating a community group. We know that change starts small, with one person, one area or one community. We must take to heart the saying that all politics is local. Local government is at the forefront, the most frequent point of interaction between the British public and government. As a former councillor myself, I know the amazing things that local government can achieve and the real and lasting impact it can have on a personal level.

Local governments are the key to unlocking growth, improving health and poverty outcomes, and providing the best support to the most vulnerable. But our local authorities, as Stuart rightly points out, are suffering tremendously from years of cuts and a systemic failure to properly fund even the most essential services. Our local authority finances are on their knees, and this country cannot deliver growth, reform public services or improve life changes without first fixing local government finances.

I commend the hon. Gentleman for bringing forward this debate. He is absolutely right to underline the importance of local government. I served as a local councillor for some 26 years before I came to Parliament, so I understand the importance of local government. He is outlining why Government needs to commit to funding for local towns and cities across all of the United Kingdom. Does he feel that Government’s interaction with local government should be the first stop when it comes to organising funding and understanding what the real issues are on the streets?

I completely agree. There has to be a two-way dialogue, in which the Government talk and work with local government to work out the challenges that need to be fixed.

The Local Government Association reports that 29 councils needed exceptional financial support in 2025-26 to set a balanced budget. That is 11 more than the previous year, and I am afraid that number will only continue to grow. The Government’s pride in place strategy is meaningless when local authorities are still being encouraged to sell community commodities such as libraries and leisure centres to avoid financial ruin. That is no way to set our communities up for success. It is stripping away the key things that make a community, the places where people gather and access the support and services that they need. Drawing on dwindling reserves is not a sustainable financial plan.

However, there are also regional inequalities to the issue, which slice across all aspects of daily life, from transport to potholes. Last year’s fairer funding review lacked all nuance, basing criteria for recovery grants on deprivation figures from over a decade ago. Stockport council missed out on any recovery funding; it is now left to pick up the pieces, and to continue fighting tooth and nail without the £20 million it so desperately needs to sustain long-term services, despite having some of the most deprived wards in the UK in our borough. In just three years’ time, Stockport council will be underfunded by £63 million. Despite that, the council won local authority of the year in 2025—a testament to its officers and councillors.

Stockport is a council that does not shy away from hard decisions. It was promised more from the Government, yet things have not changed. In opposition, the Labour party decried the underfunding of local councils across the country and said that things could only get better under its tenure. Well, councils are facing the same problems across the north-west, and we are seeing the same lack of ideas from the Government that we did under the Conservatives. Real-time cuts to local government funding in Stockport alone have reached more than £133 million in the past few years. As a result, Stockport council was forced to find £24.5 million of savings just for the 2025 budget.