The deputy leader of Tory-led North Yorkshire Council has accused the deputy prime minister of ‘rural robbery’ over a reduction in funding and raised the spectre of legal action.
At a meeting of the council’s executive committee on Tuesday, Cllr Gareth Dadd said the decision to cancel the rural services delivery grant was a ‘purely ideological political attack’ by Labour ministers that had left the council £6m worse off a year.
Dubbing the move ‘Rayner’s rural robbery’, Cllr Dadd told the committee that with ‘a stroke of a pen one evening we lost £14.3m’ and added that the administration was ‘considering legal options, judicial review and the likes.’
‘I believe we have a duty to protect our position against this politically motivated ideologically driven attack ultimately upon our residents,’ he added.
‘One could be forgiven for thinking their motives are verging on vindictive.’
In response, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government commented: ‘We are injecting £69bn of funding into council budgets across England to help them drive forward the government’s Plan for Change, including a £23m increase for North Yorkshire Council.
‘We know that councils have suffered from short-term solutions, which is why we are working hand in hand with councils to reform this outdated system and fix the foundations.’
