At today’s meeting of Cornwall Council, the Conservative administration voted through its budget for next financial year (2022/2023), as well as a medium term financial strategy for the next four years. The vote was 48 votes to 30.

The Mebyon Kernow / Green Party Group voted against the budget and called on the Conservative administration, Tory MPs and Conservative Government to deliver fair funding for local government in Cornwall.

Cllr Dick Cole spoke on behalf of the Group. His speech was as follows:

When I was preparing for today’s meeting, I thought back to the last time we were in this chamber for a budget debate.

This time last year, I remember that the main opposition group were very critical of the budget for 2021/2022, and they expressed outrage at the decision to increase council tax by the maximum amount allowed by central government.

Twelve months on, that opposition is now the administration, and we have a Conservative Party budget in front of us. And it is much worse than the previous one.

Cuts of tens of millions of pounds. More than 400 job cuts. And a maximum increase in council tax – something opposed in 2021.

The recent council press release states that the administration is “proud” of this budget. Such a statement is caveated by claims – repeated today – that they inherited a “very difficult financial situation” from the previous administration.

The Mebyon Kernow / Green Party Group strongly rejects this narrative. There is a different reality.

Local government in Cornwall is in a parlous state because it is greatly underfunded. It has suffered a decade of savage cuts – from governments of the same colour as the new administration.

And it is disturbing that local government continues not to be a priority for central government, which is failing in its duty to repair the damage caused by the funding choices during the so-called austerity years.

Members of the Cabinet are talking about the need for fair funding for Cornwall – as the Deputy Leader did today – but that is not enough.

The Autumn budget from Westminster contained a large number of spending increases – all underpinned by tax increases. We all know the overall tax-take has gone up significantly – but not enough of this resource is coming to local government.

I would like to share one example with this meeting. Annual funding for the devolved governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland went by a collective £8.7 billion – that’s eight thousand, seven-hundred million pounds.

By comparison, the uplift in financial support for local authorities was low. One group representing local councils rightly described the latest increase in funding as a “drop in the ocean … compared to the cuts since 2010” and that it wouldn’t even cover inflationary pressures.

This political reality is one founded on choices from the UK Government – and this means that Cornwall is missing out and local government in Cornwall is missing out.

That needs to change.

When the Conservatives won last year’s election, the leader said that it was the “start of a new, big adventure for Cornwall.”

And the present political reality is that Cornwall’s unitary authority has a Conservative majority, all six MPs in Cornwall are Conservative, as is the UK Government.

So there is therefore a massive obligation and responsibility on the Conservatives – both this present administration and members of parliament – to use their political muscle to deliver for the people of Cornwall.

But that is not happening. Because what have we been talking about in recent weeks? Redundancies, the downsizing of this unitary authority, the ditching of council offices, the pressure on social care, the potential closure of leisure centres, a plan to jettison outdoor centres, massive reductions in the localism service. This is all bad news and would be preventable if local government was properly funded.

As I said before, this is another budget of cuts and job losses and increases in council tax – an increasingly insidious form of taxation which impacts most on the less-well-off.

I say to this administration. Now is the time to change the narrative.

The Mebyon Kernow / Green Party Group will not be supporting this budget today, and we will continue to do all that we can to put pressure on this administration and MPs to deliver fair funding for Cornwall Council and its public services.