Senior representatives from Leicestershire County Council and the six Conservative Members of Parliament for Leicestershire and Rutland recently met with the Chancellor of the Exchequer to discuss fairer funding for Leicestershire.
The County MPs joined the Leader, Deputy Leader, Chief Executive and other senior staff from Leicestershire County Council in meeting with the Chancellor to discuss the funding issues faced by the local authority.
The meeting, brokered by Alberto Costa, MP for South Leicestershire, was organised for the County Council to present their proposals to the Chancellor and the Local Government Minister and to ask that the Government review their funding formula to provide Leicestershire with fairer and more equitable funding. Also in attendance were Dr Luke Evans MP, Alicia Kearns MP, Edward Argar MP, Jane Hunt MP and Neil O’Brien MP.
The six Conservative Members of Parliament for Leicestershire said, “We were very pleased to assist in organising for Leicestershire County Council to meet with the Chancellor of the Exchequer to discuss a fairer funding arrangement for Leicestershire. Conservative-led Leicestershire County Council have done a fantastic job in delivering an efficient and excellent service for the people of Leicestershire; however, it is important that the county receives its fair share of funding and we remain committed to supporting them”.
Leader of Leicestershire County Council, Councillor Nick Rushton, added, “I’m very grateful to our MPs for organising the meeting for our senior leadership team to meet with the Chancellor. It gave us the opportunity to put the case for a fairer funding deal for Leicestershire, the lowest funded county in the country, directly to the top of Government. We’re proud to provide excellent, value for money services to our residents and are one of the most efficient and top performing councils, despite our financial situation. We’ll be meeting up with Lee Rowley, the Minister for Local Government, and look forward to progressing our work with him to achieve a better funding outcome for Leicestershire.”
