Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said the Isle of Wight’s cash-strapped council will get a 10% increase in its funding in the next year.
The leader of the Isle of Wight Council has reacted, saying she is unsure whether that is new money but knows the Island needs more.
It is after a shocking figure revealed £93million has been cut from the authority’s budget in the last 12 years, requiring the council to find savings as the government reduced funding.
The matter was raised in the House of Commons by Island MP Bob Seely yesterday (Wednesday) during Prime Minister’s Questions. Mr Seely said the 50-year-old ‘funding injustice’ needed to be overcome.
Mr Seely said the Island had been getting a better deal in recent years but remained the only sizeable Island in the UK which does not receive a funding uplift to support local government services, as previously reported by Island Echo.
All the evidence shows, he said, it costs more to provide local services on the Island compared to the mainland.
Mr Sunak responded confirming the uplift in funding for the council and said he will ensure Mr Seely meets with the local government minister, Lee Rowley, to ensure the Island gets the support it needs.
Councillor Lora Peacey-Wilcox, council leader, has confirmed a rescheduled meeting is now in the diary for Tuesday, with other senior Island officials, to speak with the local government minister and civil servants.
A formal assessment of the Island’s funding needs has also been agreed by the government. Cllr Peacey-Wilcox said she looks forward to working together to meet the Island’s needs.
An additional £1million was given to the Island last year to recognise the unique challenges we face and another £1million has been announced for the next financial year.
Triffic that mean’s 10% off our Tax bills…..!? We don’t like being squeezed
It’s for the next year so will depend on inflation.
if inflation remains at 10% and uplift is 10% then the most we can expect is no increase perhaps, if we are happy with level of services provided on current budget.
the over paid top nob’s will be getting that
More Tory lies, lying is what they do best.
Look at Bojo yesterday coming out with sorry excuses
while loved ones could not visit dying family members or attend
Funerals.
Bozo knows he can’t say he didn’t mislead MPs because there is photographic evidence that he did. His solution is to say he didn’t mislead them on purpose because he didn’t realise what was going on in No 10 could be considered a party.
In essence, he was saying “I’m not a liar, I’m an imbecile”
Which is genius and totally believable.
Because everyone thinks he’s an imbecile anyway.
“The leader of the Isle of Wight Council has reacted, saying she is unsure whether that is new money but knows the Island needs more”
The leader of the council does not know if it is new money! God help us! If she doesn’t know how much money is being received, then she is a total idiot. The correct response would have been to check before replying if she did not know. But she should really know what funds are available. Howe does she know that the island needs more if she doesn’t know how much there is at present??? The blind are obviously leading the blind on this hopeless council.
Think you’re being a bit harsh here. There have been announcements for an uplift in social care funding and education funding. This 10% could easily encompass these two funding areas, so it’s already been accounted for.
But on past performance we cannot trust the council to spend it wisely
Let’s keep an eye out for flying pigs.
Funny how money becomes available when an election is due within a year
Except it isn’t new money. Just more creative accounting, just like everything else Soundbite Seely has tried to pass of as the “Island Deal” in the past.
Exactly .. prepare yourselves for lots of these distractions from the real situation and truth .. Bob and his Westminster chums are experts at it .. then they deny .. joke is special deal for the Island .. and it’s not April fools day yet ..
I think it’s terrible.
Next year, could it be election year?
So 2024, when they could call an election. The gammons love a tax cut then moan like an old lady on wash day when there are no police.
Gammons think they are right all of the time, then whine like petulant toddlers and blame everything but their own stupidity when it is shown they are wrong.
Prime example is the way they were convinced Brexit would stop all of the foreigners coming here. They were told it would discourage the useful migrants like farm workers and dentists but encourage more illegal migration because we would lose the support of the French.
When that actually happened, were they adult enough to admit they got it wrong? Oh no. They stamp their lillte feet and blame the French, the RNLI, “wokes” (still waiting for one of them to prove they know what that word actually means), etc, instead of their own gullibility and lack of education.
More money for them to spend on laptops- windows-electric car’s etc !!!!!!
Can’t see any being spent where it’s needed ….
Especially as our council are pros at wasting our money !!!!!!!
propaganda
/ˌprɒpəˈɡandə/
noun
1.
information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote a political cause or point of view.
I don’t know. Maybe he’s being trustworthy and truthful this time?
No Mr Sunak, not next year, NOW. Repeat NOW. I never believe anything anything a politician says until it is in the past tense. Or, put simply, I will believe you when, and only when, I can see positive proof that the money has reached the Island .
cash strapped my arse.waste OUR money of frivolous rubbish thats why
10%uplift will only go intoo there back pockets while we all still suffer
New or old. This council will just waste it and levy more increases next year.
Another promise of “jam tomorrow” and unclear whether it is new money. Proof of the pudding…
Let’s just hope they don’t do some quiet deal and give the money away to Portsmouth etc and then try to justify it as somehow good for Islanders!
WHOOPY DO….how blessed are we on this wonderful green with turquoise seas island,full of jollies reading this delightful news
Wonder what the Council will waste that on? 10% = shows where we are in the pecking order, wonder who the lucky ones are. Talk about Post Code Lottery – government is becoming a bigger joke each month.