This is no way to treat Trafford Council. And no way to treat Trafford residents.

Labour councillor, Ben Hartley, has once again demanded the Tory government provide a fairer funding settlement for Trafford Council.

Speaking during the meeting of Full Council yesterday (Wednesday) Cllr Hartley, tabled a motion calling for central government to fix the broken system and fund the authority adequately.

Since 2010, Trafford has suffered a 60per cent real terms reduction in its budget and has had to close budget gaps totalling £288m.

Cllr Hartley, Labour’s Parliamentary candidate for Altrincham and Sale West, argued: “Time and again I’ve called for a fair funding deal, not preferential, just an equal share similar to other authorities.

“I’ve also asked the local Tories to publicly echo my call.  And time and again they’ve failed to do so.  Each time – like the party they support – they let Trafford residents down.”

Cllr Hartley, who represents Ashton upon Mersey ward, also accused local Tory councillors of gleefully hoovering up the ‘scraps’ from the PM’s table in a bid to keep their ‘rancid’ government in power.

“They’re happy to vote against council investment in our roads, our leisure centres and our town centres,” added Cllr Hartley.

“They are happy to make the lives of vulnerable people in Trafford worse.

“Despite the vital front-line services that councils provide, local government has always been treated with contempt by Conservative governments and Conservative councillors.

“Lest we forget the damage they did to the authority’s finances and to front-line services when they led the council.

“Council tax frozen, depriving the council of £15m in its council tax base.  Sure Start Children’s centres closed.  Council care homes closed.

“They should be ashamed to sit in this chamber.”

Cllr Joanne Harding, Executive Member for Finance and Governance, backed her colleagues demands by arguing that there has been a move away from providing local government funding based on need, toward one based on local tax raising ability.

Due to significant variations of banding distribution and local tax bases, some areas raise much more.

Cllr Harding added: “This council saw a reduction in the Services Grant of £1.2m and received £0 from the Funding Guarantee or Rural Services Delivery Grant at the provisional settlement.

“One in five councils think it is very likely that they will issue a s114 notice this year or next. Let that sink in. And these are Councils of all political colours.

“This current funding model is broken, and it breaks things apart for our residents, the people we have ALL been elected to represent.

“The recent £600 million announced to ‘help’ local councils survive – and the other scraps that we get thrown – are just sticking plasters in the long line of gaping wound management.

“There is a serious need for short, medium, and long-term reform of local government funding, it simply is not fair to carry on like this.”