The Government announced yesterday the grant settlements for local government for the next two years. The government's revenue grant for 2006-07 is £127.9 million for Suffolk County Council, £5.8 for Mid Suffolk and £6.6 million for St Edmundsbury. Each Council is now looking at the detail of the funding to assess whether this is below what they need and what they have had in previous years. Suffolk County Council has said already that 'If this figure is correct….the settlement is much lower than central government has given us in previous years.'

All three Councils will be making fuller statement on the grant settlement as soon as they are in a position to do so.

David said:

'I am worried that the people of Suffolk are set to lose out again. Local people have received a raw deal from this Government for too long. It is high time that Suffolk received its fair share of funding.

'If the funding for local authorities is below what they have received in previous years then services will have to be cut or charges increased to prevent further tax rises. The blame for this will lie squarely with the Government of the day.

'House of Commons figures published this year show that since 1998 per capita funding in both St Edmundsbury and Mid Suffolk has been well below the national average. Funding for St Edmundsbury Borough Council has increased by just half the national average of 30%. Funding for Mid Suffolk has risen by only 24%.

'Suffolk has been starved of funding for too long; we need our fair share.'