Bedford Liberal Democrats call on the Chancellor to support councils

Ahead of the Comprehensive Spending Review, Bedford Liberal Democrats have written to the Chancellor, calling on the Government to deliver on their promise to support councils in their response to coronavirus to prevent massive increases in Council Tax and cuts to services.

The following letter was sent along with a petition from Bedford Borough residents calling on more support for councils:

In March 2020, the Local Government Secretary said "The government stands ready to do whatever is necessary to support councils in their response to coronavirus."

Bedford Borough Council is now facing a funding gap of £26.4m over five years. The scale of this challenge is unprecedented, and we still need to deliver care for the elderly, support vulnerable children and to continue to protect our libraries and improve our streets and pavements amongst many other services. The type of figure we are looking at here for one year is of the same order as the gap over 4 years that we faced during the time of government austerity.

We call on the Government to do whatever is necessary to support councils in their response to coronavirus and fund all councils properly to prevent massive increases in Council Tax and cuts to services.