This week, Dr Kieran Mullan, MP for Bexhill and Battle, took the concerns of rural communities to Parliament, directly challenging the Deputy Prime Minister on the Labour Government's unfair rural funding settlement.
This follows Labour's decision to cut the Rural Services Delivery Grant, which last year provided £110 million to 94 rural authorities to help maintain essential public services. Now, their provisional funding settlement gives rural areas around 40% less spending power per head than urban areas. This comes in the light of plans to abolish district councils in Sussex, and across the country, and merge their powers into larger regional combined authorities.
Analysis from the Rural Services Network confirms that while urban areas are seeing increased government funding, rural funding has flatlined—yet both are still expected to provide the same level of services.
Kieran said: "There’s a lot of talk about reorganisation, but it does nothing to fix the deep unfairness in funding. Once again, Labour is proving they don’t understand rural areas—putting big cities first time and time again. Rural communities deserve better."
Campaigners and local leaders are calling on the government to reverse these cuts and ensure fair funding for rural councils.
