Leeds City Council leader says extra money 'too little too late'

Leeds City Council leader James Lewis said the authority had been "desperately" trying to balance the books

The leader of Leeds City Council has described the government's extra funding for local authorities as "too little, too late".

Communities Secretary Michael Gove announced a £600m package on Wednesday, in the wake of recent warnings of future bankruptcies.

Leeds Council is facing a £65m deficit, and is looking at cutting 750 jobs.

Mr Gove said the extra money would allow councils "to continue to provide vital services for their communities".

Local authorities would share £500m to help fund children's and adult social care, Mr Gove added.

James Lewis, said: "Any extra funding for council services that everybody in Leeds relies on is to be welcomed, but this does feel like too little, too late."

Mr Lewis, who represents the Labour Party, said he expected the authority to receive between £6m and £7m as part of the extra funding announced by Mr Gove.

"We have been desperately trying to balance the budget for next year," he added.

"We have seen hundreds of millions of pounds a year taken away from all council services by the government since austerity was imposed on us in 2010.

"That's added up over the years."

Meanwhile, in Bradford, the fellow Labour-controlled council is predicted to have an overspend of £73m for the current financial year and last month called for urgent government support.

Leader Susan Hinchcliffe told a recent council meeting 87% of this year's total budget was spent on essential children's and adult services

Cllr Hinchcliffe said the council did not yet know how much extra money it would receive

She said she welcomed the extra funding, which she said "shows the government acknowledges there is a structural shortfall in council funding nationally".

However, she added: "The Bradford Children and Families Trust alone has an in-year budget pressure of nearly £50 million and next year is predicting this will be £42 million.

"We therefore need to wait to see how much of the £500m announced nationally today will be coming to Bradford before we can see how much this helps our financial position."

In a written statement, Mr Gove said local authorities would have to "produce productivity plans setting out how they will improve service performance and reduce wasteful expenditure to ensure every area is making best use of taxpayers' money".