Sunderland Conservatives defend Government over cash for city after council chiefs' criticism

Bosses at Sunderland City Council have claimed ministers are failing to live up to promises to ensure cash flow, with Wearside’s finances currently facing a black hole worth up to £35million due to the effects of COVID-19.

But the city council’s opposition Conservatives insist handouts to local authorities have been ‘fair’ and urged spending chiefs to dip into savings to plug gaps.

“The government has bent over backwards to support the British people during the Covid 19 pandemic,” said Coun Robert Oliver, leader of the group.

“But there is no bottomless pit of money and it will have to be paid back by future generations.

“If the Labour leadership of Sunderland council feel that they need more funding then it is up to them to lobby the government, rather than complain and make false comparisons with different parts of the country which are not relevant.”

Early in the COVID-19 crisis, the government announced a £1.6billion fund to support councils, of which Sunderland received almost £10.6million.

The scheme was later doubled to £3.2billion, but Sunderland’s allocation did not, shrinking to £7.6million in the next round of hand-outs.

Changes to formula calculating grants in the second stage of the scheme saw all 12 North East councils lose out, while local authorities elsewhere gained.

However three of the region’s fire and rescue authorities, which were also included, also saw their shares increase.

Coun Graeme Miller, the leader of Sunderland City Council, said the government had started to ‘quibble’ over funding as councils saw their income fall and costs ‘rocket’.

He added: “The government pledge that they would pay full costs for councils came from Boris Johnson, the Chancellor and the local government secretary.

“They said, do what we ask and we will cover the costs.

“They gave £3.2billion, Sunderland has received £18 million of that, but in that time the cost to Sunderland has been nearly £28 million.”

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you

How to subscribe to the print edition

It’s easy to subscribe to your local newspaper. We have arranged a special 20 per cent off subscription offer for people to take advantage of. Visit www.localsubsplus.co.uk, choose the newspaper title, the type of subscription and enter your details.