Tell us the truth over Surrey council “sweetheart” deal, 62 council leaders demand of Theresa May

This is the letter by 62 Labour council leaders and elected mayors to Theresa May seeking assurances that whatever “deal” offered to Surrey county council to fund social care will be offered to all local authorities.

Prime minister,

We are writing regarding funding arrangements for Conservative-run Surrey county council. Specifically, the alleged reason behind David Hodge’s decision to drop a planned referendum on increasing council tax by 15 per cent to cover the severe shortfalls in social care, after apparently holding ‘several conversations’ with Whitehall figures.

It has been widely reported in leaked texts, sent by David Hodge supposedly intended for Nick King, Sajid Javid’s special advisor, that DCLG was working on a Memorandum of Understanding.

In response, as leaders of Labour councils and council groups, we have a series of questions:

a) Was a deal struck for Surrey County Council?

b) If so, what are the details of the deal?

c) Why was a special deal struck with Surrey behind closed doors?

d) Does the government finally recognise that local government is grossly underfunded and is that why they have given a special deal to Surrey?

e) Does the government now recognise that there will be a £2.6bn shortfall in social care funding by 2020?

f) If a deal was struck, will ministers offer the same deal given to Surrey to all councils, regardless of political affiliation, when the local government finance settlement is published on 22nd February?

We have a crisis in social care, resulting from the Conservative government’s cuts to local authority funding. Secret backroom deals are not the answer. We urgently need a proper solution, which means providing councils with the funding they needed to solve this crisis.

Given the public interest in this matter we will be publishing this letter.

Yours sincerely,

Barrie Grunewald     St Helen’s Council

Mohammed Butt    Brent Council

Richard Watts          Islington Council

Stewart Young         Cumbria County Council

Simon Henig            Durham County Council

Nick Forbes              Newcastle City Council

Lewis Herbert          Cambridge City Council

Peter Martland        Milton Keynes Council

Warren Morgan      Brighton & Hove City Council

Jaz Athwal                 Redbridge Council

Sharon Taylor          Stevenage Council

Simon Greaves        Bassetlaw Council

Peter John                Southwark Council

Sam Dixon                Cheshire West and Chester Council

Steven Brady           Hull City Council

Iain Malcolm            South Tyneside Council

Ray Oxby                   North East Lincolnshire Council

David Budd              Middlesborough Council

Jean Stretton           Oldham Council

Simon Letts              Southampton Council

Sue Jeffrey                Redcar and Cleveland Council

Doug Taylor             Enfield Council

Susan Hinchcliffe    Bradford Council

Mark Townsend      Burnley District Council

Hazel Simmons       Luton Council

Alan Rhodes             Nottinghamshire County Council

Claire Kober             Harringey Council

Peter Box                  Wakefield Council

Christopher Akers-Belcher          Hartlepool Council

Richard Leese          Manchester City Council

Judith Blake              Leeds City Council

Bob Price                  Oxford Council

Tom Beattie             Corby Council

Sachin Shah            Harrow Council

Bob Cook                  Stockton Council

John Clancy              Birmingham City Council

Julian Bell                  Ealing Council

Julie Dore                  Sheffield City Council

Steve Bullock           Lewisham Council

Shaun Davies           Telford & Wrekin Council

Terry O’Neill             Warrington Council

Stephen Lydon        Stroud Council

Phil Davies                Wirral Council

Alexander Ganotis Stockport Council

Steve Eling                Sandwell Council

Sarah Hayward       Camden Council

Peter Lamb              Crawley Council

Simon Blackburn    Blackpool Council

Steve Houghton      Barnsley Council

Jon Collins                 Nottingham City Council

Robin Wales             Newham Council

Alistair Bradley        Chorley Council

Stephen Alambritis            Merton Council

Darren Rodwell       Barking and Dagenham Council

Ian Maher                 Sefton Council

Ros Jones                  Doncaster Council

Roger Lawrence      Wolverhampton Council

Martin Gannon       Gateshead Council

Tim Swift                   Calderdale Council

Cliff Morris                Bolton Council

Pete Lowe                 Dudley Council

Tony Newman         Croydon Council

Kieran Quinn           Tameside Council

Anne Western         Derbyshire County Council