I have been reading various things in local papers about Central Government payments to local government, and the conclusion, its a con!

I may be slightly one sided in saying this, as although I am a strong Labour supporter I live in Kent, arguably one of the strongest Conservative areas. So whats my gripe over it? Well. over the last few years the figures show that more payments are being made by local government to the midlands and northern England counties. While people may look at this and say that the midlands and north is generally where the less wealthy areas of the UK and where most investment is needed, my argument is this. The UK is clearly divided into North and South, that does not justify more money being taken from the south and given to the North. The issues I have are:

- More money is given to Labour areas and taken from Tory areas (more about electoral success than local government I think)
- The South is most of the UK economy and is more industry and financially advanced than most of Europe so it needs more investment to enable it and the UK to maintain its position
- Virtually all illegal immigration comes into the UK via the South so councils like Kent have to pay more to this while having their budget more restricted
- Central Government investment in local council per person is higher in Labour than Tory local government areas

In my opinion the Government should grow up on this issue and make it equal throughout the UK, a set amount of investment per person (and extra for things like immigration issues where certain areas pay more.) This should also cover Scotland, more is invested per person there by England (where 50m of the UKs 60m population live) than on its own people. The classic example there is the fact that Scottish students get grants for Uni while English and Welsh ones have to pay, most of this money comes from the English Economy.

This is not a rant against the north or Scotland before anyone says so, it is a simple call for all areas to be allocated funds by population and, where necessary, extras like immigration