North West motorists amongst hardest hit by council cuts, says Labour Euro MP

North West councils were amongst the hardest hit authorities this week when Communities Minister, Eric Pickles, imposed deep cuts on the money available for council services.  

Manchester Labour Euro MP and Chair of the European Parliament's Transport Committee, Brian Simpson, has described the allocation of funds to North West local councils as being unfair when compared to councils in the South of England, in particular on the issue of grants to keep local roads free from potholes.

"The announcement is bad news for North West motorists. Today we see the South West receiving the biggest Road Maintenance Grants and a generally better settlement, whilst the North West faces crippling cuts", said Mr Simpson.

As this month's deep freeze is set to cause more damage to the country's roads, and £9.5 billion worth of repairs still waiting to be carried out after last winter, motorists are now faced with a 15% cut in the road maintenance budget for 2011.

In other council services North West local authorities have suffered bigger cuts than authorities such as Dorset and Devon, leading to accusations that the Coalition government is looking after its own regions at the expense of urban areas.

"It just seems totally unfair to me and you do have to question whether it's politically motivated. We know cuts were inevitable but to hit the poorest areas the hardest shows how vindictive and uncaring this Coalition government has become", added Mr Simpson.