National News Boris Johnson - Ousted Former PM

[Yellow There!]

Keith

He looks like he's been caught taking a dump in his office and is pretending nothing happened

The pained facial expression says it all

 

[Sheik djibouti]

Of course it’s central government who should be investing, as I said, whilst fighting for that investment and holding them to account, get on and do something rather than sit and wait for something that may not come.
If the local council aren’t holding government to account, vote in a party who will. Simple.

Simple?....really?

What you are actually saying is, vote in a local council who central government approve of and are willing to throw a few more scraps towards.

A Labour MP in a deprived area trying to hold a Tory central administration to account.....unrealistic I'm afraid.

Up until 2015-ish, the answer would've been....."sorry mate....it's austerity innit?"
2015ish onward, the Brexit car crash show rolled into everyone's town and overshadowed all other issues.

Shall we also talk about Local Authority settlements from Central Government over that time? The following is an excerpt from the Local Government Association report on Local Government Funding:

Full report here: https://www.local.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/5.40_01_Finance publication_WEB_0.pdf

So it is all very well trying to "hold central government to account", but when faced with the systematic hollowing out of irreplaceable funding streams, where should Local Authorities turn?

The answer is to rely on their tax paying residents by putting up council tax year on year. But those rises pail in to insignificance compared to the loss in central funding. And for those hardest hit, it only serves to P**s the electorate off even more as they are asked to dig even deeper into pockets that were pretty shallow to begin with.

So yeah...more money asked for by LA's to plug and increasing funding gap AND to see even less in return from that local authority. A perfect storm created by Central Government which gets the voters running to their arms out of desperation.

NOW try and tell me that spunking billions on HS2, Trident and Hinkley Point are worthwhile...whilst watching deprived areas continue to wither on the vine. The money for local authorities is there in spades, but central government choose to spend elsewhere on big ticket white elephants, whilst watching deprived (mostly traditionally Labour held) communities suffer and the LA and local MP getting the flack for it.....clever eh?

Here's a question for you. Why are Labour doing significantly better in Wales do you think?

 

[Sheik djibouti]

He looks like he's been caught taking a dump in his office and is pretending nothing happened

The pained facial expression says it all

Actually I think it is possible that he's of an age where his waterworks are starting to misbehave, he's forgotten his Tena Man pad and he's hoping that little leakage that escaped whilst going down on one knee hasn't soaked through to his trousers

 

[QR]

What you are actually saying is, vote in a local council who central government approve of and are willing to throw a few more scraps towards

And they don't even try and hide this. It is bribery (using your own money!!); nothing more, nothing less.

 

[Eaststanding]

Simple?....really?

What you are actually saying is, vote in a local council who central government approve of and are willing to throw a few more scraps towards.

A Labour MP in a deprived area trying to hold a Tory central administration to account.....unrealistic I'm afraid.

Up until 2015-ish, the answer would've been....."sorry mate....it's austerity innit?"
2015ish onward, the Brexit car crash show rolled into everyone's town and overshadowed all other issues.

Shall we also talk about Local Authority settlements from Central Government over that time? The following is an excerpt from the Local Government Association report on Local Government Funding:
View attachment 6263
So it is all very well trying to "hold central government to account", but when faced with the systematic hollowing out of irreplaceable funding streams, where should Local Authorities turn?

The answer is to rely on their tax paying residents by putting up council tax year on year. But those rises pail in to insignificance compared to the loss in central funding. And for those hardest hit, it only serves to P**s the electorate off even more as they are asked to dig even deeper into pockets that were pretty shallow to begin with.

So yeah...more money asked for by LA's to plug and increasing funding gap AND to see even less in return from that local authority. A perfect storm created by Central Government which gets the voters running to their arms out of desperation.

NOW try and tell me that spunking billions on HS2, Trident and Hinkley Point are worthwhile...whilst watching deprived areas continue to wither on the vine. The money for local authorities is there in spades, but central government choose to spend elsewhere on big ticket white elephants, whilst watching deprived (mostly traditionally Labour held) communities suffer and the LA and local MP getting the flack for it.....clever eh?

Here's a question for you. Why are Labour doing significantly better in Wales do you think?

I can’t care enough to read that response in full I’m afraid, but keep shouting until you find someone who’ll acquiesce to your persistent posts and then I’m sure you’ll feel happy that you’ve forced your point home.

 

[Sheik djibouti]

I can’t care enough to read that response in full I’m afraid, but keep shouting until you find someone who’ll acquiesce to your persistent posts and then I’m sure you’ll feel happy that you’ve forced your point home.

At least your honest in that you can't care I suppose

I care because in the 7th richest economy in the World nobody should have to live in poverty and without any hope of better....but here we are!

 

[QR]

I can’t care enough to read that response in full I’m afraid, but keep shouting until you find someone who’ll acquiesce to your persistent posts and then I’m sure you’ll feel happy that you’ve forced your point home.

You're a born Tory.

 

[Sarge]

An oldie but still rings true (IMO)....

 

[Essexyellows]

Simple?....really?

What you are actually saying is, vote in a local council who central government approve of and are willing to throw a few more scraps towards.

A Labour MP in a deprived area trying to hold a Tory central administration to account.....unrealistic I'm afraid.

Up until 2015-ish, the answer would've been....."sorry mate....it's austerity innit?"
2015ish onward, the Brexit car crash show rolled into everyone's town and overshadowed all other issues.

Shall we also talk about Local Authority settlements from Central Government over that time? The following is an excerpt from the Local Government Association report on Local Government Funding:
View attachment 6263
Full report here: https://www.local.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/5.40_01_Finance publication_WEB_0.pdf

So it is all very well trying to "hold central government to account", but when faced with the systematic hollowing out of irreplaceable funding streams, where should Local Authorities turn?

The answer is to rely on their tax paying residents by putting up council tax year on year. But those rises pail in to insignificance compared to the loss in central funding. And for those hardest hit, it only serves to P**s the electorate off even more as they are asked to dig even deeper into pockets that were pretty shallow to begin with.

So yeah...more money asked for by LA's to plug and increasing funding gap AND to see even less in return from that local authority. A perfect storm created by Central Government which gets the voters running to their arms out of desperation.

NOW try and tell me that spunking billions on HS2, Trident and Hinkley Point are worthwhile...whilst watching deprived areas continue to wither on the vine. The money for local authorities is there in spades, but central government choose to spend elsewhere on big ticket white elephants, whilst watching deprived (mostly traditionally Labour held) communities suffer and the LA and local MP getting the flack for it.....clever eh?

Here's a question for you. Why are Labour doing significantly better in Wales do you think?

So expecting local authorities to be fiscally responsible with the 69% of locally raised revenue is a bad thing?

"In 2018/19, local authorities in England received 31% of their funding from government grants, 52% from council tax, and 17% from retained business rates – revenue from business rates that they do not send to the Treasury."
Source: https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/local-government-funding-england

HS2, Trident, Hinkley point etc are national infrastructure/defence projects, although I will agree on HS2 but both sides had their fingers in that.

Our Labour City council do a reasonable job up here but their default reaction to criticism is "its the Government" .
Maybe they should bite the bullet and engage with said Government?

As for Wales.........

Welsh ministers' own scorecard misses broken promises, says Plaid Cymru

Welsh Government annual report criticised for not acknowledging "broken promises".

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[QR]

So expecting local authorities to be fiscally responsible with the 69% of locally raised revenue is a bad thing?

It would be if need born out of poverty positively correlated with an areas ability to grow (and its only a proportion of growth that is retained locally after a baseline has been passed) its business rate income due to a buoyant local economy. Fact is in most areas there is an negative correlation, so those with the need do not have economic and therefore business rate growth, whereas less needed affluent areas generally* do have the growth. It was a system set up by the Tories to specifically benefit mainly tory areas.

*there are some exceptions to the rule and Enterprise Zone will work against some councils because business rate growth in EZ (which are often a main area of business rate growth in their respective local government area) goes to the local LEP

 

[QR]

There seems to be a constant narrative that "the people from the estates don't know what they're voting for" or "the people from the estates are being manipulated" as if the commenter is some sort of all-seeing entity.

So if they do know what they're voting for explain this.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1390929010541174787

 

[Eaststanding]

You're a born Tory.

Thank you.
I try to invest my time, effort and money into things I can influence or change; the opinions of some on here are open to neither.
Interesting to read differing views though.

 

[Essexyellows]

It would be if need born out of poverty positively correlated with an areas ability to grow (and its only a proportion of growth that is retained locally after a baseline has been passed) its business rate income due to a buoyant local economy. Fact is in most areas there is an negative correlation, so those with the need do not have economic and therefore business rate growth, whereas less needed affluent areas generally* do have the growth. It was a system set up by the Tories to specifically benefit mainly tory areas.

*there are some exceptions to the rule and Enterprise Zone will work against some councils because business rate growth in EZ (which are often a main area of business rate growth in their respective local government area) goes to the local LEP

Any system is likely to be seen by its opponents as set up to benefit those they are opposed to.
That aside it only takes modest or small increases in income to remove people from poverty, which can be through work created locally or national changes in NI, Tax, or minimum wage.
All things that are currently happening under a Conservative government, and there is the root cause of why Labour is losing their core support.
It is being lost to "small c" conservatism and subtle changes to their lives.

 

[QR]

Any system is likely to be seen by its opponents as set up to benefit those they are opposed to.

OK explain from your perspective why it's fair.

 

[sideshowrob]

Labour hold the first six seats on the City Council to be declared.

 

[Essexyellows]

OK explain from your perspective why it's fair.

Local councils were (are) often inefficient and needed (need) to get some "business ethic" on board.
That will never be an easy fix so the central government stopped pouring the money in and ask them to do better with what they get locally.
Local Government Association (LGA) research shows that, on average, councils have saved £356 per household between 2016/17 and 2019/20 – which, if grossed up, is estimated total savings figure of £10.98 billion across all English councils – through generating additional income, transforming their services, and renegotiating their contracts.
Source: https://www.local.gov.uk/publications/fragmented-funding-report

I`m not saying it is perfect, and it may not be completely equitable but from a council taxpayers perspective, it is an improvement driven by Government.

 

[QR]

Local councils were (are) often inefficient and needed (need) to get some "business ethic" on board.
That will never be an easy fix so the central government stopped pouring the money in and ask them to do better with what they get locally.
Local Government Association (LGA) research shows that, on average, councils have saved £356 per household between 2016/17 and 2019/20 – which, if grossed up, is estimated total savings figure of £10.98 billion across all English councils – through generating additional income, transforming their services, and renegotiating their contracts.
Source: https://www.local.gov.uk/publications/fragmented-funding-report

I`m not saying it is perfect, and it may not be completely equitable but from a council taxpayers perspective, it is an improvement driven by Government.

So you agree it's not fair.

It's also wrong that that councils have been left to move into property investment, to generate 'additional income' in your words, in a vain attempt to supplement their falling funding. It will end in tears.

 

[Essexyellows]

So you agree it's not fair.

It's also wrong that that councils have been left to move into property investment, or generate 'additional income' in your words, in a vain attempt to supplement their falling funding. It will end in tears.

No, I said it's not perfect, I didn`t say it was unfair.
Councils need to take financial responsibility and provide value to their taxpayers, that is why they exist.
It's worthwhile noting that HMG has stepped in with £3.2 billion in funding to plug "Covid holes" as well as increasing core funding by £2.9 billion.
Judging from current results the people are understanding who deals with business better.

 

[QR]

No, I said it's not perfect, I didn`t say it was unfair.
Councils need to take financial responsibility and provide value to their taxpayers, that is why they exist.
It's worthwhile noting that HMG has stepped in with £3.2 billion in funding to plug "Covid holes" as well as increasing core funding by £2.9 billion.
Judging from current results the people are understanding who deals with business better.
View attachment 6266

Do you know what 'core funding' is?

 

[MC Yellow]

Let's face it the Tories have done sweet FA to help communities such as Hartlepool.

My memory is clearly getting bad... I totally forgot how affluent Hartlepool was when Labour were in government, ploughing lots of funding into the region to support “their own”