ISLINGTON could be facing £20 million in cuts from the government later this month when the Chancellor announces his autumn budget.
London Councils, the cross-party local government association for the capital, warned that the government is planning to wipe £700m from the budgets across all 32 boroughs on November 17, when Jeremy Hunt makes his autumn statement. Individual councils do not yet know what their cuts will be.
Islington’s finance chief Councillor Diarmaid Ward said Islington had already seen nearly £300m in cuts from central government since the Conservatives took over in 2010.
However, he refused to comment on where savings next financial year would be made, arguing that until the borough’s budget was decided around late February it would be a “complete disservice” to share more information with the public.
While he insisted that “frontline services” would be protected from slashings, he said there “might be delays” to the building of 750 council homes by 2026 – a key Labour election pledge in May.
He said: “It’s very, very challenging but we’re continuing to build [the council homes, although] there might be delays. We just don’t know at this point – we don’t know what’s going to happen. Interest rates are through the roof, which makes it difficult to borrow, and inflation is through the roof – we have no control over it. Central government have left us with this mess and all the burdens are on local authorities.
“We have to find savings in all kinds of different places but the important thing is we keep vital services open for our residents.”
