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Fewer migrants could mean £6m funding cut
Council leader hits out at goverment over ‘flawed’ system
WESTMINSTER Tories say they are being forced to slash funding for crucial library and leisure facilities and to raise council tax.
The cuts and tax hike are in reaction to figures showing fewer immigrants are settling in Westminster than last year. The statistics, which the government uses to calculate funding for councils, could mean a £6million black hole in council coffers.
The system is “fundamentally flawed”, according to the leader of the council, Simon Milton.
Cllr Milton has written to the Treasury after the Office of National Statistics announced its findings last week.
He believes 2,000 migrants are passing through Victoria Station each week and that more than 15,000 are living in Westminster unaccounted for.
Sir Simon said: “We simply do not believe the official statistics remotely represent the true picture of migration into Westminster.
“The council has anecdotal evidence to suggest that over 2,000 migrants are coming through Victoria coach station on a weekly basis and this seems to tally with the Department for Work and Pensions’s national insurance figures, as well as those from Home Office’s worker registration scheme.”
But Opposition leader Paul Dimoldenberg blasted the claim as “scare-mongering” arguing immigrants were providing a valuable service to the community.
But in a letter to Peter Rogers, chief executive of Westminster Council, he said: “I understand the anecdotal ‘evidence’ about 2,000 migrants a week arriving at Victoria Coach Station but I cannot understand many other links with Westminster other than this specific factor.
“Am I missing something when I ask how many of the 15,500 migrants who the council claims have not been counted by the ONS can actually afford to live in Westminster?
“Surely, very few of the 15,500 poor migrants from Eastern Europe can afford to pay the huge rents being asked even in the cheapest parts of Westminster?
“From what I understand from the anecdotal evidence, it is much more likely that the migrants to the UK are living outside Westminster in cheaper parts of London and the south-east, but are making a contribution to Westminster’s and the rest of London’s economy by taking low-wage jobs, such as sweeping the streets, cleaning offices and working on building sites, which would be impossible to fill otherwise.
“The council has over £50m in its reserves, over £30m more than successive directors of finance have advised is necessary for the council to operate effectively.
“Westminster is well placed to cover the extra costs because of the council’s massive unspent reserves built up over years of penny-pinching.” |
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