Council crisis is due to Tory neglect says Helen Morgan

North Shropshire MP has criticised years of Government neglect and a Prime Minister who does not care about rural areas for the funding crisis facing Shropshire Council.

Helen Morgan said poor local decisions like the purchases of Shrewsbury’s shopping centres for £51 million had made the situation worse but highlighted that rural councils have consistently been under-funded by the Conservatives.

Shropshire Council’s leadership has said £62 million of cuts are needed to the council budget with library services, waste collections and special needs transport all facing the axe. The equivalent of around 300 full-time jobs are also set to be made redundant by the authority.

The budget plans were released shortly after Shropshire was once again short-changed by the Government’s Local Government Funding Settlement.

Shropshire Council has had its Government funding cut by £37.3 million in real terms between 2016 and 2024, analysis by the House of Commons Library shows. Per person this equates to a real terms funding cut of 51.3%.

This is despite rural councils facing far higher costs than their urban counterparts due to older populations and large geographical areas. In Shropshire, around 80 per cent of the budget is being spent on social care along.

Helen Morgan, Liberal Democrat MP for North Shropshire, said, “People across Shropshire are rightly worried about which services Shropshire Council will cut next.

“This funding crisis is the result of years of neglect by a Conservative Government a Prime Minister that does not understand rural areas and does not care about the people who live there.

“The crisis has been made worse by poor decisions like buying Shrewsbury’s shopping centres, but rural councils like Shropshire have been starved of the funding they need for crucial services like bin collections, road repairs and social care.

“Rishi Sunak has repeatedly been warned about the catastrophes facing our councils and yet he still seems happy to let counties like Shropshire suffer.”

Helen recently spoke up for Shropshire in a House of Commons debate on local government finance and the MP has also tabled a motion urging the Government to ensure councils have the means to deliver the services that local residents need.