Stockton Council to call for better funding for vital services

Councillors voted to call for urgent police and fire service funding reform, and all seemed to agree on the need for change. Yet despite calls for a “united front” and “one voice”, the council chamber was divided in a hour-long debate where council members argued over who was responsible for the financial mess.

Both Labour and Conservative councillors denied making it political and lamented the slide into political squabbles. Each accused their opponents of bringing party politics into the discussion at a full meeting of the Labour-led council on Wednesday night (March 18).

Conservative deputy leader Councillor Niall Innes proposed the motion, saying the Labour government failed to deliver fair funding for police, fire and rescue services or local government, leaving Cleveland Police and Cleveland Fire Brigade facing projected shortfalls of £2.4m and £1.77m respectively, while the council had missed out on a share of £740m and grants.

He said the police’s gap equated to about 40 officers, in a deal which had been described by Labour police and crime commissioner Matt Storey as “deeply unfair”. Cllr Innes added the current government’s “fair funding” approach was flawed, did not reflect the area’s need, undermined public safety, eroded confidence and increased risk to residents.

He proposed writing to Chancellor Rachel Reeves expressing “deep concern and strong opposition to the impact of the Labour government’s funding policies”, and calling for urgent review and reform, fair funding and immediate redress. He said it was a cross-party motion to “turn the thumbscrews on the government that has sought to underfund our public services”.

Labour deputy council leader Cllr Paul Rowling suggested changing the motion to refer to funding from both Labour and Conservative governments over the last decade to “take the politics out so we can have a united voice to the Chancellor to say we’re not happy”.

He said the Labour group agreed the first year of the government’s fair funding settlement was not enough to keep up with demand and “we haven’t got what we would have liked”. But he said the policy was right and services would be better off in three years.

He added: “We also think it’s against the backdrop of the previous government’s record as well… The whole point was to say to government, ‘Look, the previous government got it wrong, you’ve also got it wrong, it needs sorting out.’”

Labour Cllr Richard Eglington, cabinet member for regeneration and housing, said it was an endemic issue not confined to the current government: “It’s been a decade-long process of whittling away at the resources the council have, yet demanding more and more from the council.”

Police and crime panel chair and Conservative group leader Cllr Tony Riordan said Teesside had been put to the “back of the queue” with the burden pushed on to residents, telling Labour members: “You’re embarrassed about the present government, what they’ve done, how they’ve shafted Cleveland Police and Cleveland Fire Brigade… They don’t give a toss about Cleveland.”

Labour Cllr Clare Besford, cabinet member for children and young people, countered: “It’s quite clear the Conservatives have put politics ahead of our residents because they’re too embarrassed to admit the part their own government played in the funding issues.

“We’ve been quite clear – the funding is not fair and it’s not right and we are happy to write to our government and outline that it’s not the right answer. I will not support you in whitewashing the role your own government has played in this.”

Cllr Innes accused Labour members of being ashamed and airbrushing inconvenient facts: “It’s the here and now. It is your government, your party, your unfair funding formula that is causing this. You will not condemn a Labour government that you all support, that is pulling the rug from under Cleveland Police, Cleveland Fire Brigade and this council.”

Conservative and Labour councillors voted against their opponents’ version of the motion. The Labour amendment fell by a 25-24 vote and the original Conservative motion was carried 29-22, with four independents voting in favour, three abstaining.