Councillor Warren Morgan, Leader of Brighton and Hove City Council, has written to the Prime Minister, asking if the offer of help to his local Council from his policy advisors at Number 10, extends to other local authorities.
The Prime Minister has been criticised after writing a letter to the leader of Oxfordshire County Council, Ian Hudspeth expressing “disappointment” at plans to cut “frontline” services to the elderly, to libraries, to museums and the closure of children’s centres in the country.
In his letter, Mr Cameron offers help from Downing Street advisers saying: “I would be happy to initiate a further dialogue with individuals in the Number 10 Policy Unit and yourself.”
Reacting to the Prime Ministers offer of help, Councillor Warren Morgan, the Labour Leader of Brighton and Hove City council has written to the Prime Minister asking if the help offered by his policy advisors to Oxfordshire County Council, was for all local authorities to take advantage of.
Cllr Morgan wrote:
Dear Prime Minister,
“As Leader of a city council facing cuts of over £25 million in the coming financial year, and a budget gap of over £100 million by 2019, I was interested to see your offer of help from the No 10 Policy Unit to your local council in dealing with similar, if smaller cuts, affecting your constituency.
“As the use of the civil service for partisan advantage is against the ministerial code, I look forward to that advice being made available to other councils, including mine, in the coming weeks so that I can avoid decisions on service closures, job losses and withdrawal of funding that I will have little choice but to make.
“Alternatively, I would welcome a change of policy from your Government, the Treasury and the Department for Communities and Local Government, on the complete withdrawal of revenue support grant funding during the coming three years, a policy that will lead to severe hardship amongst the people I represent and the decimation of local services in the city I serve.
I look forward to your response.
Yours sincerely,
Councillor Warren Morgan
Leader of Brighton and Hove City Council and Labour and Co-Operative Member for East Brighton
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