Marcus Jones MP has spoken out about the settlement for local governments announced recently by central government. Local councils receive a large proportion of their income through the Revenue Support Grant (RSG), and raise the rest themselves through Council Tax and ring fenced funding.

The Local Government Finance Settlement shows a reduction of the RSG for Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council of 14.6 per cent, or £1.6m, potentially impacting on front line services provided by the Council.

Nuneaton MP Marcus Jones, who was Leader of the Borough Council between May 2008 and May 2009 and was responsible for the Council’s finances, has said that a lack of foresight by the new administration will lead to them now needing to work harder to find the necessary savings.

Commenting about the settlement, Marcus said: “There is no doubt that a reduction of 14.6 per cent is a tough settlement but we have to put that into the context of the massive deficit the new Government inherited. The Government is spending £120m a day - £43bn a year – on Labour’s debt alone. If that deficit is not addressed we seriously run the risk of becoming another Greece or Ireland.

“For Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council, I know how hard it is to produce a balanced budget. To produce the 2009/10 budget, we had to find savings of almost £2m in one year with a further £1m the following year. The very sad fact about all of this is that had local Labour Councillors not politicised our efforts to share management costs with Rugby Council, they would now be in a position to find the sort of savings required far more easily. That lack of foresight is a sign of poor political and financial judgment.”