Plymouth City Council leader Tudor Evans is calling on the Prime Minister not to betray key workers in Plymouth by failing to honour his pledge to cover the council’s costs in responding to the coronavirus pandemic.
Councillor Evans has written to Boris Johnson demanding that the government does not betray hard working staff and vulnerable residents by failing to compensate the council for the significant costs and lost income due to COVID-19.
He said: “Along with other council leaders around the country, I am deeply concerned about the Government’s apparent U-turn on recompensing councils for the money spent and income lost. In a matter of days it appears to have backtracked from its earlier position that councils should spend whatever it takes to support their communities and to expect reimbursement.
“We’ve had to spend millions already on the immediate impact of this crisis and are losing even bigger sums due to lost income from business rates, Council Tax, commercial rents, parking fees and other charges.
“We’ve had staff working flat out to help protect our vulnerable residents who need food and medicines, securing and distributing supplies of protective equipment for front line care workers, urgently paying out grants to small businesses to help protect jobs, as well as continuing to deliver important services.
“We’ve also had to do urgent work such as finding a site for an NHS testing station and building a temporary mortuary in case it might be needed, in line with the Government’s request.
“These additional costs come on top of being massively underfunded after a decade of austerity. We have a legal duty to balance budgets – so if there is a U-turn it will mean only one thing: cuts to vital services, less support for the vulnerable and potential job losses. That would be a kick in the teeth for the very staff who are working so hard to keep our public services going.
“If the government goes back on its promise, it would also be a betrayal of the vulnerable people who they are claiming to want to protect.”
Councillor Evans also wished the Prime Minister a speedy recovery from his recent illness.