West Sussex County Council has opted to spend money on its Keep It Local campaign and is promoting some concern about the impact of the Government's changes to the way in which grants are distributed to local authorities.

It fears losing between £4 million and £44 million a year.

I have made it abundantly clear to everyone this will not be the case.

The Minister of State for local Government and the Regions, Nick Raynsford MP, is on record as saying: "We have on so many occasions made it quite clear that no authority will suffer loss."

The relevant section from Hansard can be viewed at www.gov.uk in the debate on this subject on October 15, 2002. I am happy to supply copies to anyone who is interested.

It is worth noting that in the year of highest inflation under a Tory government in 1995/6, West Sussex councillors felt no need to spend taxpayers' money campaigning against cuts in revenue despite having their assessment reduced by £20.6 million and the actual grant reduced by £14.8 million.

Since 1997, the council's grant has risen from £288.2 million a year to £343.4 million. Excuse me if I am somewhat sceptical about the reason for all the fuss now.

-Laura Moffatt MP, Member of Parliament for Crawley