A LABOUR local authority boss has said this week's Budget and spending review will not provide enough extra cash for his borough.

Cllr Mohammed Khan, leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council, said of Chancellor Rishi Sunak's financial package: "Whilst I welcome the additional funding announced for local government, I remain unconvinced that this will be enough to address the scale of the problem facing local authorities like ours.

"Nor will it undo the damage caused by over a decade’s worth of cuts to the council’s budget.

"The Covid-19 pandemic further exposed the persistent structural inequalities in education, employment, health and housing that exist in our borough – placing extra cost and demand for local public services on us.

"We need a settlement that will properly recognise the critical importance of local government to communities, the vital role councils like ours have played throughout the pandemic, as well as the ongoing support our vulnerable people and communities need.

"We also need government to not rely on expecting local authorities to keep increasing council tax to pay for adult social care.

"We must be given the funds and powers we need locally to close the gap on health, inequality and opportunity, one that has widened during austerity and the pandemic.

"I wrote a letter to the Chancellor recently on behalf of our residents about the decision to cancel the Universal Credit uplift and so the partial U-turn announced in the budget is welcome as is the increase in national living wage. But it doesn’t go far enough."

Mr Sunak has defended his Budget saying it had 'cut taxes for millions of the lowest-paid'.