Plan to redirect inner-city funds to Tory shires 'a stitch-up’

Critics hit out at ministers' proposed changes that claim to simplify grant distribution

Ministers have been accused of a "stitch-up" over proposals to redraw the funding formula for councils in a way critics say will redirect scarce cash from deprived inner cities to affluent Conservative-voting shires.

The proposed changes - which include the recommendation that grant allocations should no longer be weighted to reflect the higher costs of poverty and deprivation - come amid increasing concern over the sustainability of local authority finances.

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