There is “a perfect storm looming on the horizon” that will
become “a new crisis” for vital public services, key workers and
councils unless the government gets a grip on rising cost
pressures, Labour’s will warn in a speech today
(Wednesday).
The Shadow Levelling Up Secretary will say that “the country
doesn’t need a tribute act” as she urges
to hold urgent talks to ensure
under-pressure councils can maintain crucial services while also
supporting “the staff who are the beating heart that sustains
them”.
This comes after the Local Government Association (LGA) warned of
potential further cuts to services such as bin collections,
filling potholes, and care for older and disabled people, as
soaring energy prices and inflation are set to add £3.6bn in
unforeseen extra costs to council budgets by
2024/25.
Addressing the LGA conference in Harrogate, will say:
“There is a new crisis for all councils and a real crisis too for
workers on the horizon, which threatens the vital services that
communities rely on.
“The local government cleaners, home care workers, refuse
collectors and teaching assistants – the people who kept this
country going during the pandemic at great personal cost and who
now can’t feed their own families on the money they earn even as
they care for ours.
Calling for the government to head off potential
disruption for the public, Nandy will say:
“We need an active government that doesn’t sit on its hands but
seeks out unions and employers to square this circle together. We
have just seen our railways grind to a halt while the Transport
Secretary refused to lift a finger.
“So I say to – the country doesn’t need a
tribute act. Convene a
meeting, without delay, with the explicit aim of reducing
pressure on councils so they can maintain services and support
the staff who are the beating heart that sustains them.”
In her speech, will also call for Whitehall and
local government to act as “partners” to “change the system and
ease the pressure”, tapping into the expertise of frontline
workers to “eliminate waste and spend money more
efficiently”.
She will say:
“It is this approach that will help us face the short-term crisis
and the long-term challenge of turning around a high tax, low
growth economy, and getting our country firing on all cylinders,
by using the assets and potential of every part of Britain and
the people in it. The government calls it levelling up. We call
it rebuilding Britain.”
She will lay out plans to give more powers to communities in
order to “smash up a century of centralisation” and “restore
power to people who will use it to rebuild from the ground
up”.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
1. will be speaking to the Local
Government Association conference in Harrogate at 10:30am on
Wednesday 29 June.
