Labour MP Steve Reed has challenged James Cleverly over his party’s record on funding London councils after the former Conservative cabinet minister visited Croydon.
Cleverly joined Croydon’s Conservative mayor, Jason Perry, to discuss investment, safer streets and the borough’s future. Reed responded by accusing him of serving in “the most anti-London government in living memory” and said Conservative ministers had denied councils the resources they needed.
Reed: ‘the most anti-London government in living memory’
Reed, who served as housing and local government secretary until July, contrasted that record with Labour’s changes to council funding. He said he had reconnected funding with deprivation and that the government was investing record amounts.
The government’s three-year local government settlement, announced while Reed was secretary of state, changed how funding is distributed to better reflect deprivation and the cost of delivering services. It made around £78 billion available to councils across England in 2026–27, including additional support for areas hardest hit by historic cuts.
Why Croydon matters
The exchange carries particular significance in Croydon. Perry previously joined local Conservatives in welcoming Labour’s Fair Funding Review and calling for its needs-based reforms to be delivered in full. At the time, he argued that the old formula had failed to reflect the borough’s population growth and pressures on services.
Reed’s intervention puts council finances into the emerging debate over London’s future. Cleverly is seeking the Conservative nomination for the 2028 mayoral election; Reed argues that his party’s time in government should be judged alongside the investment it now promises the capital.
The national funding total does not mean every London borough has seen its budget pressures disappear. But Reed’s central challenge to Cleverly is clear: any pitch for London must answer for the funding decisions made when the Conservatives were in power.
