Rishi Sunal admits taking money from deprived areas

There is no knee jerk reaction, the facts have been known for a long time. What is new, and newsworthy, is Sunak saying it out loud, honestly. They absolutely reprofiled spending to benefit areas that didn't need it as much. This is well documented.

We do know the facts. The biggest cuts were in the poorest areas. Look at bloody Blackpool as a good example. What's been done is awful.

But some of those party members might be concerned about people other than themselves. That's why some people get into politics.
There will be problems within primarily well off areas that need Gov funding and it might be that the previous formula wasn't working. I don't know. I do think knee jerk reactions aren't helpful.

There really wasn't any nuance, the facts speak for themselves. Analysis of council funding shows the biggest cuts were made in the poorest areas.

The government deliberately levelled down.

I bet those areas who have a Tory MP did not lose much money.

@Shortbreadbuyer I think you have a good heart, I hope yours is the correct interpretation but I fear not. But maybe!

I'm not surprised he did it, but I'm surprised he's admitted it in public.

Yes! I noticed the tabloids are pretty keen to push for Truss and there have been a lot of snide articles posted about Sunak.

The MP for Royal Tunbridge Wells, Greg Clark, is the new Secretary of State for Levelling Up…

Wealthier areas collect more in council and business taxes, they provide less council tax support, they have more people self funding for care, they fund less home support.
These areas also have less need for social services interventions too.

They basically have more money before any extra Govt support is needed.

Hence very wealth areas often having lower Council tax rates.

A few weeks ago Con MP Dehenna Davison told the Burnley audience of Question Time: I think there is a little bit too much emphasis on money. while talking about the Government's Leveling Up Policy.

They can't even be arsed pretending anymore.🙄

When it comes to the Tories, shafting the poor is not a bug, it's a feature.

There was no nuance. He was standing in a garden, talking to white, middle-aged, middle-class Tory party members in Royal Tunbridge fucking Wells.

I know there are foodbanks in RTW, but he wasn't in one of them.

He just said the quiet part out loud, is all.

In addition, the £1bn funding boost Rishi distributed as part of the English Towns initiative was used politically too. Seven eighths of the funding went to Tory seats and the remaining eighth went to areas the Tories were likely to target in the next election.

Corruption and manipulation are Tory Government values: can we really be surprised?

Yep, and the pope's a Catholic.

Tories in 'fuck the poor' shocker.

Next up, where bears shit will amaze you.

I wouldn't personally describe Tunbridge Wells as a deprived rural area, would you?

Did he mean take it from deprived urban areas to give some to deprived rural areas ( or areas where there is some rural deprivation)? I think there was a bit more nuance to it.

Did he mean take it from deprived urban areas to give some to deprived rural areas ( or areas where there is some rural deprivation)? I think there was a bit more nuance to it.

Let’s not give him a pass he wasn’t talking to some small village town in the north of the country- he was delivering a speech to a bunch of retired Torie voters in Tunbridge wells ffs. Revelling in the delight of being part responsible for removing/ destroying/ dismantling the safety nets Labour had put in deprived areas to help with silly little things like child poverty.
the man is scum, too rich, too stupid and too Torie !

I presume he was meaning in the context that poor rural areas also got some of the cash? Even predominantly wealthy areas like Tunbridge Wells still have significant pockets of deprivation. Expensive and sparse public transport means it can be far harder to be poor in those areas (particularly villages) than in the cities.
I don’t vote Conservative but believe that Sunak is a much better option than Truss. For a party daft enough to choose Johnson as it’s leader last time, who knows who they will choose. At least Rishi is too rich to be bribed by free wallpaper!

this is levelling up!!!

It seems to me that the vast majority of Tories are more than happy to take money away from the poor in order to give it to the rich, because that's what they have been doing for years. However, they do usually like to be allowed to pretend to themselves that they're doing it for the right reasons, and Rishi has just been a bit too honest on this occasion. Nobody likes to be confronted with such uncomfortable truths

good point

I don't care about him being rich either @calmlakes. I do care about him being an arsehole though, and if anyone was in any doubt about that before the Tunbridge Wells video, they must be pretty clear about it now!

Imagine what he's said about deprived areas that we don't know about