During the Parliamentary half term session one of the most senior MPs George Howarth set out a Local Government proposal. On the Morning of Wednesday 22nd February when I first wrote this piece three of his MP colleagues endorsed the Early Day Motion he published. However since then a few other MPs have added to it. The more MPs who endorse it will encourage the the Government to be aware of it and that will hopefully strengthen the call for Councils across the Nation. George Howarth is the MP for Knowsley in Liverpool and he has been an MP in Parliament since 1986 so he has been an MP for 37 years this year. The piece he has written is available here and the text is below, it is headlined Local Government Funding

That this House acknowledges that local government fulfils a vital role and should be funded in such a manner as to enable it to continue to do so; notes with regret that councils face a funding gap of £3.19 billion for 2023-24; further notes that councils will be confronted with the unacceptable choice of cutting services or using already worryingly declining reserves to balance their budgets; expresses alarm that the gap is likely to increase to £5 billion in 2024-25 without taking into account increased energy costs and inflationary pressures; and calls on the Government to ensure that adequate funding is provided to local authorities in order to ensure that their budgets are future-proofed against the need to cut jobs and services in the short, medium and long term.

The first 3 MPs who have endorsed it are Jonathan Edwards, the Independent MP in Wales at Camarthen East and Dinefwr although he was previously a Labour MP. Jim Shannon is the DUP MP for Strangford so he represents Northern Ireland and the third MP is Rebecca Long Bailey who is the Labour in the Manchester area for Salford and Eccles.

Then on the evening of 22nd February two more MPs endorsed the document – they are Dan Carden, Labour at Liverpool Walton and Richard Foord, Liberal Democrat at Tiverton and Honiton.

Then at the end of Thursday (23rd February) two more MPs endorsed it. They are Jon Trickett the Labour MP for Hemsworth and Claudia Webbe the previous Labour MP for Leicester East but she is now an Independent MP.

On the evening of Friday 24th February three more MPs have endorsed it. They are John Spellar, Labour for Warley in Birmingham, Nadia Whittome, Labour for Nottingham East and Helen Morgan, Liberal Democrat North Shropshire.

So the current 11 MPs represent Merseyside (2), South Wales, NI, Manchester, Devon, Yorkshire, Leicestershire, Birmingham, Nottingham and West Midlands