The CLG is facing a budget cut of almost a third through the Comprehensive Spending Review, The Guardian is reporting today.
According to the national newspaper, chancellor George Osborne could slash the department’s budget by 30% over four years, a move likely to see the department impose similar scale cuts to council grant budgets.
The paper is reporting that CLG ministers are so concerned about the extent of the cuts that they are pressuring Downing Street to ditch prime minister David Cameron’s plan to introduce directly elected mayors across 12 major cities – a policy Eland House believes could be too costly in the context of imposed austerity.
Mr Cameron has long supported plans for London-style directly elected mayors in cities such as Birmingham, Bristol and Manchester. Communities secretary Eric Pickles recently told The MJ he could outline plans for powerful mayors through his forthcoming localism bill, although he is now alleged to be considering watering down plans for new mayors.
Treasury and CLG sources today could not confirm the chancellor’s planned budget cuts, but one warned that almost all department’s faced ‘hefty’ reductions in annual spending.
