Greenwich (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Greenwich CouncilGreenwich Council funding cut of £24.7m sparks backlashfaces a £24.7m funding cut under Labour plans, with critics accusing local councillors of “shameless hypocrisy” for staying silent.
A dramatic shift in funding away from ‘inner London‘ boroughs, such as Greenwich, is part of the government’s so-called ‘Fair Funding 2.0’ proposals. This will result in a £24.7 million cash cut between the 2026–2027 and 2028–2029 fiscal years, with an additional potential ‘cliff edge’ threatening even more cuts after 2029. In contrast, the previous Conservative administration increased government funding for Greenwich Council by £55 million in the most recent Parliamentary period between 2019 and 2024. At the time, Greenwich Labour council members claimed that the amount “falls short of what residents deserve.”
In spite of this, Greenwich Labour has remained silent about the anticipated cuts by the Labour Government. They only disclosed the modelling in response to questions from Conservative council members at Town Hall.
With a £9.1 million non-delivery now anticipated and a £15 million overspend in the Council’s budget barely three months into the 2025–2026 fiscal year, the government’s proposed cuts coincide with Greenwich Council, which is led by Labour, struggling to deliver its own round of efficiency savings. Although no specifics of these extra “in year” cuts have been released, the Labour Cabinet was cautioned this week that “the council will need to take in year measures to reduce /mitigate the risks” to the Council’s financial condition.
Councillor Matt Hartley, Leader of Greenwich Conservatives, said:
“After years of dither and delay, Labour councillors have only belatedly woken up to the scale of waste and inefficiency that needs to be removed from the Greenwich Council’s budget. They’ve been warned about this by the Conservative Opposition councillors for years – and instead of doing the right thing, they’ve played partisan politics at every turn.
With Greenwich Labour struggling to deliver even the current round of efficiency savings, the Council’s leadership needs to urgently get a grip or their financial crisis is only going to escalate.
Now it has been confirmed that the Labour government is planning to cut £25 million from Greenwich Council’s budget in the next 3 years – and yet the Labour councillors here in Greenwich are silent about it. The truth is they’ve been badly caught out, and its council taxpayers across Greenwich who will pay the price for ever higher taxes and reduced services in the future.”
Opposition Conservative councillors have put forward a motion for September’s Greenwich Council meeting calling for urgent action to stabilise the Council’s financial position (see below).
This Council expresses concern that the Royal Borough of Greenwich may lose £24.7 million in central government funding (in cash terms) over the next three years as a result of the government’s so-called “Fair Funding 2.0” policies, according to London Councils’ research.
The administration started a public campaign against the local government financial settlement, claiming in an open letter to the then-prime minister that “the current funding settlement for our council falls short of what residents deserve,” even though central government funding for Greenwich Council was actually RISING during the previous Parliament under the previous government, increasing by £55 million between 2019 and 2024.
However, the council points out that the administration has not started a public campaign opposing the plans now that the present government is planning to cut Greenwich Council’s funding by £24.7 million during the remaining years of this Parliament.
Additionally, the administration’s current round of Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) efficiency savings has underperformed, as the Council’s budget was overspent by £15 million just three months into the 2025–2026 fiscal year, and non-delivery of £9.1 million is now anticipated. The Cabinet was cautioned this month that “the council will need to take in-year measures to reduce / mitigate the risks” to the Council’s financial position as a result of this, according to the Council.
Thus, the council asks the executive:
- use all of the administration’s resources to publicly and privately urge the central government to modify its Fair Funding 2.0 suggestions to guarantee that central government funding for Greenwich Council is maintained
- Details of the “in year measures” that the administration plans to use to stabilize the Council’s finances in the current fiscal year 2025–2026 are published for public and council member review by the end of October 2025.
- pledges to provide a new monthly report of the Cabinet’s performance in delivering anticipated MTFS savings for public and councillor scrutiny, in addition to the current quarterly budget monitor, given the urgency of the council’s financial circumstances.
What are the details and context of the Greenwich funding cuts?
The funding cut of £24.7 million is expected to happen late in the 2026/27 financial year and into 2028/29, with concerns about a greater “cliff edge” cut thereafter in 2029.
This is a very marked turn around from the previous Parliament under the Conservative government, when Greenwich Council experienced £55 million worth of funding increase from 2019 to 2024.
During the previous paused period of funding increase period, Labour councillors in Greenwich had publicly campaigned that funding was still inadequate as it was even with a funding increase and so the silence from the Labour on similar, negative cuts, is even more glaring.