Councillors in Staffordshire question their own budget to save £35m

A band of 14 Tory councillors in Staffordshire have taken the unprecedented step of calling in the draft budget set by their own leadership - but insist it is not a rebellion.

Councillor Jonathan Price, who is leading the move, said he wanted assurances cuts to voluntary funding would be reversed as soon as more money became available. Staffordshire County Council has announced it will have to make drastic savings if it is to balance the books, and has blamed the Government for a substantial drop in funding.

Council tax is expected to rise by nearly three per cent from April while voluntary groups have been invited to take over libraries, including in Cheslyn Hay, Eccleshall and Penkridge.

Councillor Price acknowledged cuts were 'necessary' but said fellow Tories were uncomfortable with plans to slash £600,000 in funding from the voluntary and community sector. He stressed the move was not a pre-cursor to any sort of coup and that leader Philip Atkins retained his full support.

The move to call in part of the budget proposals means they will now be scrutinised by top councillors. Theoretically, if the band of 14 don't get the assurances they want the budget could be voted down with the support of opposition when it goes before the full council in February, an outcome that would spark a full-blown crisis at county HQ.

However, Councillor Price said he would not be referring the matter back to the cabinet, suggesting he is keen to avoid an internal row on the issue.

Despite admitting cuts were unavoidable, he said he couldn't let the 75 per cent drop in funding to the voluntary sector pass without speaking up.

In a letter to leaders he said : "I feel, as do other members, that this reduction will severely reduce the council's ability to help implement the community-first agenda. This will have a dramatic impact on our local communities particularly on the children, young people and families served within the current contract."

Ahead of a crunch meeting to discuss the budget, he told the Express & Star: "The county council has had to make some difficult decisions as far as budgets cuts goes. They are necessary. Central Government is giving us less funding so we have to make savings elsewhere."

But he added: "The reason we have called it in is just to ask part of it be scrutinised. We want to raise with the group that we are concerned about the cuts to VCSE contracts. We have asked cabinet that should we, in future, get a better settlement from Government later this year they possibly look at re-thinking.

"We are asking the cabinet to re-think it, in whatever form that is. We want them to be mindful we have concerns.

"Support Staffordshire is extremely good value for money to the county council, the man hours run into thousands and play a huge part in decreasing pressure and demand on the authority."

Asked if this was councillors putting on record their displeasure at cuts to voluntary funding, Councillor Price replied: "Correct."

He added: "It's more about saying to national Government that we are making decisions we don't want to make. Brexit seems to be a big distraction. We have got to start looking a bit closer to home."