Southgate and Wood Green MP Bambos Charalambous says it is “plain wrong” that government money is taken away from Enfield and Haringey

A cross-borough MP has said it is “plain wrong” that Enfield and Haringey – as well as other outer London boroughs – receive less money than councils in inner London.

Addressing a special Westminster debate on local government finances, Southgate and Wood Green MP Bambos Charalambous highlighted the injustice of a process called “damping”, which essentially means outer London receives proportionally less money from the government than inner London even after needs-based calculations have been made.

Both Enfield Council leader Ergin Erbil and Haringey Council leader Peray Ahmet have recently called on the Labour government to fix the problem as both local authorities were recently forced to apply for ‘exceptional financial support’ to balance their 2025/26 budgets.

Other outer London boroughs, including Barnet and Havering, are also facing significant financial challenges.

Charalambous told the Westminster Hall debate on local government finance last week: “Both Enfield and Haringey have faced enormous pressure on their budgets since 2010. Enfield, like many other outer London boroughs, suffers from damping, which is where the government assesses what the need is for outer London boroughs, calculates that need, but then takes away a proportion of that amount and distributes it elsewhere.

“This is just plain wrong.”

The Labour MP called on the government to fix the issue and said: “The inner-outer London formula needs to be scrapped. We need to double the homelessness prevention grant. We need to introduce a funding formula that represents the need to address deprivation.”

The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has previously said it would be reviewing local council finances and the formulas used to calculate grant funding before the 2026/27 financial settlement but has yet to commit to remove outer London damping.

MHCLG was approached for comment for this article but did not respond.

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