The government has “no magic wand” to help councils struggling with cash, Bracknell’s MP has said after local councils criticised it for lack of funding.
Bracknell Forest and Wokingham Borough councils have both said low government funding is partly to blame for multi million pound deficits they are facing in their budgets.
But Conservative MP James Sunderland – whose constituency covers Bracknell and parts of Wokingham Borough – has said the government can’t write councils “a blank cheque” because it has to recover money it spent during the pandemic.
He said: “There is no magic wand when it comes to money.
“The government borrowed about £800 billion during the pandemic and that was to keep people safe. That was the furlough scheme, the self-employment scheme, that was the NHS and that was PPE.
“A government has to keep people safe, so the government did what it had to do with furlough and the self employment scheme and vaccinations.
“And that cost a huge amount of money. And the sad thing is that that needs to go back into the treasury.”
His comments came after Bracknell Forest Council’s leader, Labour councillor Mary Temperton, appealed to the government to give councils more money.
Bracknell Forest Council faces spending £3 million more than it had budgeted for this year, with council leaders arguing that government funding isn’t enough to cover rising costs.
Leaders at Wokingham Borough Council also blame low government funding for the financial pressures they face.
They argue that Wokingham Borough receives less money per head from the government than any other unitary authority.
But Mr Sunderland insisted that councils will have to make up funding shortfalls themselves by bringing in more income and scaling back their budgets.
He said: “I would love to be able to write a blank cheque to Bracknell Forest Council and Wokingham Borough Council, but that’s not the reality that we’re living in.
“And good government is fiscally pragmatic and we’ve got to put money back into the treasury.
