NORTH Cornwall’s MP has slammed the government after Cornwall Council is left facing a sudden £57.2-million funding gap.

Ben Maguire has spoken out against the government following the news. According to the MP ‘Cornwall Council was given clear indications by the government in summer last year that their 'fairer funding' formula would recognise the higher costs of delivering services in rural areas like Cornwall, including social care, transport and more. Councillors and officers were given indicative figures based on that promise, and began preparing forthcoming budgets accordingly’.

However, ministers have now dropped the promised 'rural remoteness' aspects of their funding formula for the provisional Local Government Settlement.

Commenting, Mr Maguire said: "The government promised fairer funding for rural areas, gave indicative figures based on that promise, and Cornwall Council built its budget around them. Now, at the eleventh hour, the Government has pulled the rug out from under Cornwall. The council is being given £57-million less than what ministers themselves told the council to expect. The result is potentially over a £100-million black hole, even after a 5 per cent council tax rise.

"Cornish families are now being asked to pay more in council tax while facing cuts to vital services, because the government has chosen to protect urban councils and abandon rural ones like ours. Fairer funding was supposed to level the playing field, yet instead, Labour has built a system that takes money from places like Cornwall and hands it to the big cities.

"This is absolutely a political choice. Cornwall faces huge pressures on social care, SEND provision, and much more. These are the people, when services are now inevitably cut, who will now pay the price as a result of the government’s decision."