Dagenham and Rainham MP Welcomes Government’s Fairer Funding For Havering.

News from Margaret Mullane MP.

The Member of Parliament for Dagenham and Rainham, Margaret Mullane MP, has given a welcome to the announcement of the Government’s funding settlement for Havering Council. The system that had been in place for allocating grant funding from the Government over the period of the Conservatives being in power at Westminster, had skewed resources away from areas of need towards more affluent parts of England.

This had a drastic impact on Havering and many other boroughs, towns and cities. Havering has experienced a growth of population, particularly children and older people that has greatly increased social care spending. 

On coming into government Labour vowed to review the system to make a much fairer distribution of grant, one which reflected needs of the local population. The repeated calls from councils up and down the country to give a multi year settlement on funding rather than a single year sum that prevented councils from better and more efficient spending plans was also heard, so that councils now have certainty for three years ahead.

The figures for Havering Council speak for themselves. In the last comparable period of Tory Government, Havering had a 2% rise in its spending power which was more than eaten up by inflation. In this week’s announcement, Havering will get a 34% increase in spending over the next three years, amongst the highest rises in England. That percentage translates to £83.5 million.  

Margaret told the Havering Daily: “This is really positive news. I have been meeting with Ministers over the last year and only this week I was in Downing Street making the case for fair funding at the very highest level to givea much needed better settlement for Havering and Barking and Dagenham Councils, so I am pleased. 

However, this must only be the start in respect of Havering because the Council has been put under immense pressure from a combination of population shifts and terrible grant funding from Tories in government from 2010.

I will continue to fight for resourcing for Havering from the Government and will continue to work with the Council to bring this about.”

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