Southwark and Lambeth Council Leaders and MPs gathered at Westminster to call for fair funding for local people and services.
Proposed changes to local government funding could cost millions for vital local services - an estimated £37m for Southwark and £45m for Lambeth.
But local leaders argue the proposed changes should fully take into account the lives and needs of many local people, especially high housing costs. One in three children in Southwark lives in poverty once housing costs are taken into account.
Yesterday councillors and MPs gathered at Parliament Square to call for fair funding for vital services in their boroughs.
Those at Westminster included:
- Cllr Sarah King, Leader of Southwark Council
- Cllr Claire Holland, Leader of Lambeth Council
- Helen Hayes, MP for Dulwich and West Norwood
- Bell Ribeiro-Addy, MP for Clapham and Brixton Hill
Cllr Sarah King, Leader of Southwark Council said:“We’ve come together to call for fair funding because we are concerned about the effect that the proposed funding changes will have on people living in our boroughs.
“Crucially the changes don’t take into account high housing costs – some of the highest in Britain. One in three children in Southwark lives in poverty once housing costs are taken into account.
“We support reform to local government funding and we’re calling for fair funding for our boroughs, that take local needs including very high housing costs into account.”
Cllr Claire Holland, the Leader of Lambeth Council, said:
“We welcome the government’s commitment to reform local government funding which has long been promised by successive governments. However, we are deeply concerned that the current proposals could see Lambeth lose out on tens of millions of pounds, on top of over a decade of structural underfunding of local services.
“We don’t think this is fair, and we’re fighting hard to protect local services. We are committed to working collaboratively on finding a solution that meets both the Government’s ambitions and the needs of our residents.”
Leaders of Southwark and Lambeth are working closely with London Councils and Central London Forward on the campaign and Fair Funding solutions.