As we enter 2026, with a firm plan of action ahead, I must surely welcome the Labour Government’s announcement that Crawley Borough Council will get a £1.4 million cash injection for essential services – a 10% increase in the Council’s spending power this year, and by the third year this will have increased to approximately 33% more.
Under the Tories, local authorities were starved of investment, with core spending power down by around a quarter since 2010. Indeed, Crawley fared worse compared to the rest of the country in virtually every settlement post 2015, until 2024. That put immense pressure on our local services.
But the Labour Government has announced a radical overhaul of how local government is funded, reversing Rishi Sunak’s cynical political efforts to put money into wealthy shires and Tory seats.
Fair Funding is the next step on Labour’s journey to reverse a decade and a half of austerity and decline under the Conservatives, and build stronger communities.
England’s councils will get much more for essential services with more money going to places with the greatest need. Indeed looking at the figures, Crawley Borough has been one of the biggest winners in the country. This can only be right because there was a lot needed to reverse some of the unfair decreases made previously by Tory Governments.
The funding injection is aimed at restoring pride and opportunity in places that have been left behind, to get back what has been lost.
The money is part of the first multi-year funding settlement in over a decade, giving councils three years of financial certainty so they can plan ahead, rather than firefight year to year.
And in a turning point, places are now being funded using an evidence-based system that properly recognises local circumstances and the true costs of providing services in deprived communities.
This is a real chance to turn the page on over a decade of cuts and callousness, to invest in getting back what has been lost.
For too long, we were being left behind. Now however, the council has received one of its best financial settlements from the Government in over 15 years, making a real difference to people’s everyday lives by boosting the services we all rely on.
The Labour Government is reversing Tory decline and investing in Britain’s renewal, so credit where it is due.
A huge contrast with previous years’ budgets when councillors here in Crawley had the constant, soul-destroying experience of needing to find savings, even when the services in question were doing a lot of good for a lot of people. I believe, as far as public services are concerned, we are entering an era of renewed optimism.
Cllr Michael Jones
Leader, Crawley Borough Council