Conservative chancellor Rishi Sunak says it is only "right" Nottingham City Council is held accountable for the financial failures of the past. However Boris Johnson's chief financial minister refused to admit successive Government's had slashed cash injections for local authorities over the past decade to the detriment of cities such as Nottingham.
Local authorities across the country have been grappling with "unprecedented" financial pressures, the Institute for Fiscal Studies says, particularly as demand on services such as adult social care continues to rise due to an ever-aging population. Government grant money had been the primary source of income for these services until around 2010, when cash injections were cut and continue to be slashed to this day.
In Nottingham the council receives roughly £100m less every year, which equates to around £427 per person. Successive Conservative Governments have placed income generation more so in the laps of councils ever since, and the primary source to fill this gap is through council tax hikes.
