Hartlepool MP Jonathan Brash discusses government funding for Hartlepool Borough Council

Transcript

00:00We're here with Jonathan Brash, Hartlepool's MP. Jonathan, what's your thoughts to the

00:05provisional local government finance settlement that's been recently announced and what will

00:10it mean for residents in Hartlepool?

00:11Well look, we've had 14 years where our towns faced cut after cut after cut and that's changing

00:19now. This government has put forward a settlement for local government that wipes out the £4

00:24million deficit that our council is facing after the great work of local councillors

00:28and officers to reduce that from £10 million. But it's actually putting more money into

00:32the system. Our core spending power in Hartlepool is now going to be 9% higher than it was.

00:37The England average is only 6%. So we're reversing that trend of moving money away from Hartlepool

00:42and instead we're putting money into Hartlepool. That's a really positive moment. There's a

00:46long way to go. You can't fix everything in five months. It takes a lot of time to fix

00:5014 years of damage. But it's a really positive start and I'm really pleased with what the

00:54Labour government have done.