Unfair council funding will be tackled by a Labour government, Party leader Ed Miliband told the Examiner.
He said Kirklees Council has suffered far too much and while he stopped short of promising more cash, he said it would get a fairer deal.
Ed Miliband said: “I think I’m right in saying Kirklees has been hit three times harder than Witney, David Cameron’s constituency. That’s not fair, that’s not right.”
“It shows this government runs things for the rich and most powerful and not for ordinary working people and we’ll change that and we’ll have fairer funding.”
Asked if it means Kirklees will get more money, he replied: “What we want is a fairer funding formula and it does mean there’s a big choice – the Conservatives want to double the cuts next year which is incredibly dangerous for local government. We’re not promising that there won’t be any changes or cuts, but we are saying there will be a much fairer allocation of resources.”
After the Examiner’s readers’ manifesto called for more cash for local roads, he promised a £300m pothole fund if Labour won power at Thursday's general election, adding: “I think people are worried about what’s happening in relation to road maintenance and we’re making that a priority.”
The Labour leader, speaking exclusively to the Examiner, before a public Q&A at Dewsbury Town Hall, also spoke about issues we’d recently raised with the Prime Minister David Cameron.
Here’s what Ed Miliband had to say:
Examiner: Locally the Labour council are working to allocate greenbelt for development, it’s at odds with what the people want. What is Labour’s policy on this?
EM: I am clear about this, we are not going to weaken the protections that the government have put in, in fact they have weakened the protections. We’re going to strengthen them by saying brownfield first.
Examiner: Developers are telling Kirklees councillors they can’t afford affordable housing and the councillors have felt they had to accept something rather than nothing. Do you think you’ve got the right plan for more affordable houses?
EM: We have a plan to build 200,000 homes and we’re going to insist on them being affordable. We also want a fair deal for those who rent – 11m people across the country live in the rented sector and nobody is providing a fair deal for them, we will have three-year tenancies with no rent rises above inflation in that time. Councils can set aside up to 50% of homes in the local area, where planning permission has been granted, for people who have lived there for three years.
Examiner: Labour is fighting key marginal seats in Dewsbury, the Colne Valley, Halifax/the Calder Valley. Question marks hang over the future of the A&E departments in each area. Does Labour have the money to keep an A&E in those areas and should each town have an A&E?
EM: I think what is terrible is this government, having promised no closures, are embarking on a series of downgrades which are not clinically led. Our principle is clinically led. I know, for example, Andy Burnham has been in Halifax talking about fact the plans there have no clinical basis. We’ll be guided by clinical judgements. It doesn’t make much sense to be closing A&E during the middle of an A&E crisis.
Examiner: Could your government find the money for this?
EM: We’ve got a plan for £2.5bn more for the NHS, which is precisely designed to relieve some of the pressures on A&E. We’ll have to look at what we inherit. The Tories don’t have £8bn extra, they don’t have a penny. It’s dangerous for the NHS to be funded with an IOU. They’ve got an IOU, we’ve got an immediate rescue plan for the NHS.
Examiner: The boss of Locala, a not-for-profit health firm, received a £26k pay rise, perks for frontline staff have been axed. Does that seem fair to you?
EM: I’m alarmed by this story actually. It does go to the wider issue that the Tories want to turbo-charge the drive to privatise the NHS. I think the future of the NHS is on the ballot paper for this election. But it does seem incredibly unfair, it’s part of the problem if you start to hive off the NHS.
During a public Q&A session, Mr Miliband answered questions on the bedroom tax, benefits, tuition fees, and the SNP, among others.
One member of the audience told Mr Miliband: “You tell the Tories to come clean about the welfare cuts, will you now come clean about the possibility of SNP deal?”
Mr Miliband ruled out a Labour/SNP deal and the man questioned: “An alliance?” Ed replied: “No, you can hold me to that.”
He promised “on day one” to start the process of axing the ‘bedroom tax’, but could do little to help the current students facing £9,000 fees. He said Labour would reduce it to £6k in 2016 – the earliest they could – and vowed to help students through the education grant and cost of living.
