FINANCE

A tale of two Budgets?

While the Budget delivered an economic quick fix, critics have highlighted its silence on support for public services and rising inequality, and a ‘scattergun’ approach to levelling up. Heather Jameson reports.

The chancellor's Budget last week was never going to deliver what local government needs – a sustainable long-term finance solution that addresses the multiple issues of soaring adult social care costs, unsustainable business rates and increasingly ludicrous council taxes.

Instead, it offered a quick fix to bail out the economy until September – hopefully seeing the country through the worst of the pandemic – and a promise to start getting the UK's bank balance back on track.

Heather Jameson

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