Councils increasingly pessimistic about Brexit impact

More than 70 per cent of council bosses are expecting Brexit to have a ‘negative’ or ‘very negative’ impact on their local economy.

The New Local Government Network has found that Brexit uncertainty is taking a toll on economic confidence in local areas, as well as distracting councils from delivering key local services. The network’s latest NLGN Leadership Index reports that councils are increasingly pessimistic about the impact of Brexit on their local economy, with more than three quarters of respondents having had to divert resources from key public service priorities to prepare for Brexit.

Alarmingly, about three quarters of upper tier councils with social care responsibilities have had to divert resources. Furthermore, there is some regional variation: as many as 92 per cent from Yorkshire and the Humber indicated they had to divert resources whereas only half of councils in the North East indicated they had to do so.

The index also found that optimism in the local business environment has continued to decline and is now the lowest since the first Leadership Index survey in March 2018.

The NLGN says that the findings should be a signal to the government that councils urgently need more support and certainty in order to make reasonable practical plans needed to cushion any further negative impact on their communities.

Adam Lent, director of the NLGN, said: “As the Brexit saga rolls on, hope is being drained from the people in the driving seats of our local areas, with optimism hard to come by, even in Tory-led councils. Wherever you stand on the UK leaving the EU, it is clear that Brexit has already exerted an economic toll, stripping resources from vital services that are already eroded by years of cuts.”