The Leader of Richmond Council, Councillor Gareth Roberts, has called for fairer funding and reform of council tax mechanisms in the wake of the Government's recent Spending Review, announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves on 11 June.

The Spending Review sets out departmental budgets for the next three years and outlines investment priorities up to 2030.

Key announcements included:

• NHS funding in England to rise by 3% annually, reaching £226bn by 2029
• Free school meals to be extended to an estimated 500,000 more children from September 2026, costing £490m per year
• The Ministry of Defence's day-to-day budget to increase by 0.7% in real terms, alongside a significant 7.3% average annual rise in investment spending

While Cllr Roberts welcomed aspects of the review, he told Richmond Nub News that the Government must do more to address long-standing funding inequalities between local authorities.

"Richmond gets very little from the Revenue Support Grant (RSG), whereas other boroughs such as Westminster and Wandsworth receive significantly more because they can point to deprivation in parts of their area," said Cllr Roberts.

"That leads to absolutely nonsensical situations. In Westminster, for example, someone can own a 10-bedroom mansion and still pay less council tax than someone living in a one-bedroom flat in Richmond."

Cllr Roberts warned that without additional funding guarantees, the council may be forced to consider further council tax rises.

Residents are losing out, and if we don't get increases in funding, which is what the councillors believe are going to prevent Council tax rises in the future, then we have no option other than with regrets, to look at mechanisms such as Council tax increases...

"Prices increase year on year with inflation, and we have to provide services for the most vulnerable and even though we cannot for as many efficiencies as we'd like, we still have to make sure that those statutory services are provided."

These statutory responsibilities include children's safeguarding, adult social care, education, waste collection, housing services, road maintenance and libraries.

Another major concern for the Leader is the lack of long-term financial certainty for councils.

While he acknowledged funding pots like the Household Support Fund help vulnerable residents, he said councils need a more consistent funding stream to plan effectively.

"If we can be guaranteed money coming in, we can plan far more effectively for the future," he explained.

"The Household Support Fund enables us to ensure that children are given free school meals during holidays.  

"It makes sure that we can, you know, look after people who are on the very lowest incomes.  

"However, you will have seen that every now and again that this is really a limited term pot of money.  

"And we have to decide year in year out about whether we are going to be able to provide those services on an ongoing basis if we had greater clarity about how much money we were going to be expecting over the next five years for example, then that would enable us to plan far more for those those critical services."