MP ATTACKS UNFAIR TREATMENT OF RICHMOND

10.10.52am GMT Thu 1st Feb 2007

FROM THE OFFICE OF SUSAN KRAMER MP

For immediate release

1 February 2007

Contact: David Lloyd 07855 956061

MP RAISES RICHMOND COUNCIL'S GRANT IN COMMONS

Local MP Susan Kramer has raised the issue of the government grant for Richmond in the House of Commons.

Speaking in a debate on local councils she challenged the Local Government Minister Phil Woolas about the finances allocated to the area.

Susan Kramer said:

"I want to correct the statement that every council has received above-inflation increases. The 2007-08 grant to Richmond upon Thames council has been cut by 79p per head.

"That is partly because of a population issue, but it is also because of the change in the way that the base figure is calculated and the way that capital expenditure is put into that.

"The local authority receives the least money; it has the lowest grant in all of London, and the gap between it and the next authority is £60.30 per head. Although its grant is far less than that of every other authority in London, it has had a cut for the coming year."