South Suffolk MP James Cartlidge, who represents the Shotley peninsula, was NOT one of 46 MPs, including 44 Tories, urging Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to provide emergency funding for councils to prevent substantial cuts to services.

While fellow Suffolk MPS, Dr Thérèse Coffey, Dan Poulter, Peter Aldous, and Tom Hunt, Cartlidge did not back the move, even though Babergh bosses had made a similar call last week to minimise cuts to local services, or worse, some authorities facing financial insolvency and unable to deliver a balanced budget in 2024/25.

Fix broken funding plea from Babergh leaders...

Babergh is being forced to increase a number of charges and fees, to try and achieve cost recovery, this has included the controversial reduction in free parking in council car parks in Hadleigh, Sudbury and Lavenham. With likely increase to Pin Mill car park

The letter from the 46 MPs follows November's Autumn Statement, which provided no new funding for local authorities despite the County Councils Network (CCN) highlighting its members were under extreme financial pressure and set to overspend this year by £650m, with these councils facing a total £4bn funding deficit over three years. To compound this, the announcement of the National Living Wage has left those 37 councils over £230m worse off next year.

The letter and signatories in full:

Dear Rishi and Michael,

Impact of the Autumn Statement on County and Unitary Council Finances

We are writing to you as MPs representing county and rural areas, as we are keen to ensure that the funding needs of local authorities in our areas are properly recognised during the upcoming Local Government Finance Settlement.

In the lead up to the Autumn Statement we were exceptionally concerned about evidence produced by the County Councils Network (CCN) on the financial situation facing county and unitary councils. This showed that as a result of the prolonged higher inflation and escalating demand for services, county and unitary councils were facing overspending their budgets by almost £650m this year. In total, they face a funding shortfall of £4bn over the next three years, with planned savings only reducing this by half.

Whilst there were many brilliant announcements in the Autumn Statement, we were disappointed that it did not provide any additional support to local government, despite the strong rumours that had circulated in advance.

Furthermore, the national Living Wage increase that was announced, whilst welcome to the individuals and families that we represent, will add hundreds of millions of additional, unplanned, costs to councils' budgets.

On December 5th, Leaders of CCN member councils collectively wrote to you clearly setting out that this has left county and unitary councils in our areas significantly worse off than before the Autumn Statement and called on the government to provide further funding at the Provisional Local Government Settlement.1 However, the provisional settlement, published on 18th December, did not bring forward any further financial support.

The past twelve months have been tough financially for many of the communities that we represent given the unprecedent level of inflation and demand for services. We are therefore exceptionally concerned that without any additional investment, the overwhelming majority of upper tier councils in our areas are planning service reductions and higher council tax in order that they can pass a balanced budget for the next financial year, as they are legally required to do.

There is still an opportunity to rectify the situation and ensure MPs are able to support the vote on the Local Government Settlement within the House of Commons in early February. We would therefore urge you to do all you can to use the Final Local Government Finance.

Settlement to provide additional funding for local government to ensure that the councils in our areas can continue to provide the services that our residents depend upon on a regular basis.

Furthermore, given the pressures that are being exerted on budgets we believe that any additional funding you are able to secure should be directed towards children's services and home to school transport as combined these are exerting unprecedented pressure on local government services.

As a fellow MP for a county area, we are sure that you will find the prospect of residents in county and rural areas being impacted in such a way at this time concerning. We hope that you will be able to work with the Treasury to ensure that these points are addressed as part of the LGFS process and ensure that vital services in county areas continue to receive an appropriate level of funding for the coming year.

Yours sincerely,

Cllr Ben Bradley MP, Chair, County APPG

Peter Aldous MP

Caroline Ansell MP

Harriet Baldwin MP

Sir Jake Berry MP

Steve Brine MP

Rt Hon Greg Clark MP

Rt Hon Dr Thérèse Coffey

MP Alberto Costa MP

Dame Caroline Dinenage

MP Flick Drummond MP

Sarah Dyke MP

Vicky Ford MP*

George Freeman MP

Mark Garnier MP

Rt Hon Damian Green MP

Rt Hon Sir Robert Goodwill

MP Sally Ann Hart MP

Gordon Henderson MP

Darren Henry MP

Tom Hunt MP

Rt Hon Robert Jenrick

MP Danny Kruger MP

Pauline Latham OBE

MP Andrew Lewer MP

Tim Loughton MP

Rt Hon Sir Brandon Lewis

MP Sir Julian Lewis MP

Ian Liddell-Grainger

MP Chris Loder MP

Karl McCartney MP

Rt Hon Kit Malthouse

MP Nigel Mills MP

Rt Hon Caroline Noakes

MP Neil O'Brien MP

Rt Hon Priti Patel MP

Dr Dan Poulter MP*

Tom Randall MP

Bob Seely MP*

Andrew Selous MP

Rt Hon Sir Desmond Swayne MP

Derek Thomas MP

Robin Walker MP

James Wild MP

Heather Wheeler

MP Daniel Zeichner MP

*These names were added after the initial submission to government