'The public sector today is not just on its knees – it’s on its back' - Councillor comments low levels of government funding being received by local authorities

Such was the message from one West Sussex County councillor during a debate about the low levels of government funding being received by local authorities. Alison Cornell (Lab, Langley Green & Ifield East) spoke during a meeting of the full council on Friday (December 15) where a motion was tabled calling on the leader to write again to MPs and the Secretary of State, appealing for an ‘urgent injection of funding’.

Since 2015/16, the government has almost halved the amount of funding it gives to the county council – dropping from £157m to £82m. The story is the same all over the country, with councils repeatedly having to dip into their reserves to plug ever-increasing gaps in their budgets.