Diana Johnson MP: Hull council 'will lose £228 for every person in city'

HULL City Council will have lost £228 in Whitehall funding for every person by 2015, according to one of the city's MPs.

Hull North MP Diana Johnson revealed the figure in the House of Commons during her speech against the coalition's latest round of local government spending cuts.

Lib Dem and Tory MPs voted through the cuts on Wednesday night, despite fierce protests from the opposition.

In the first two years of the coalition Government, Hull's central government funding was cut by £163.50 per head, compared with the national average of £74 per head.

Calling all MEN and WOMEN Back massage £10 today only

Baker Street Retreat

View details

Print voucher

Get a back neck and shoulder massage for just £10 today. New clients only

Contact: 01482 214433

Valid until: Thursday, June 20 2013

Now, Ms Johnson says, if you add the latest cuts to those already made by the Government, the local authority will have lost £228.36 per person from 2010 and 2015.

She said: "Whatever people think about the Government's overall cut to local government funding nationally, it's grossly unfair to people in the tenth most-deprived local authority area in the country to face deeper cuts to local services than many wealthier areas.

"Worse still, coalition benefit changes this April will see the poorest forced to pay towards council tax bills in the same month as 8,000 millionaires will get an average windfall of £107,000 from the cut to the 50p tax rate."

Ms Johnson said Hull residents will experience the 19th highest cuts per head total in the country – despite the city being in the tenth most-deprived area.

A petition has been launched against what Ms Johnson calls "the unfair concentration of central government spending cuts on the most deprived areas".

Visit www.dianajohnson.co.uk to sign the petition. Ms Johnson says she will also be inviting people at North Point shopping centre in Bransholme to sign the petition tomorrow morning.