Adequacy of local government funding

That this House is opposed to a new phase of austerity; believes that the Government must adequately fund local authorities to avoid disastrous social consequences; recognises that covid-19 is further stretching councils that are already under-funded and under-staffed following a decade of austerity; calls on the Government to honour its commitment to fund councils fully for the extra costs of dealing with the pandemic, and the losses of revenue resulting from lock-down; believes that local authority debt held by the Public Works Loan Board as an emergency measure should be cancelled to provide councils with an extra £4.5 billion spending power a year and help to stabilise their finances; encourages the Government to begin urgent discussions on a funding system based on an annual assessment of social needs in each locality; and calls on the Government to provide £10 billion annual grant to fund building 100,000 council homes a year, which is necessary not only to address the acute housing crisis but will provide economic stimulus as we come out of the pandemic by putting people back to work.