Fury as English county to be wiped off map forever under 'wealth rebalancing' plot

Labour has confirmed one of England's smallest counties will be wiped off the map forever under a "wealth rebalancing" scheme.

As part of a wider effort to redraw the map of English councils, Rutland County Council will be replaced by a larger authority which covers much of next-door Leicestershire.

Local Government Secretary Steve Reed unveiled the plans in the House of Commons on Thursday.

He said: "We need to devolve power out of Whitehall so that we can rebalance wealth, power and opportunity right across this country."

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But the MP for Rutland and Stamford, Alicia Kearns, said Rutlanders wished to remain separate from surrounding counties, and had "never chose to join" the new authority.

Over 7,000 signatures had been gathered for a Save Rutland petition.

Ms Kearns said locals had been left "ignored and dismissed" and urged the Government to intervene.

The Conservative MP said: "Unless the Government acts, Rutland will lose its ceremonial county status.

"The signs will come down and an identity that has endured for centuries will be erased at the stroke of a bureaucrat's pen."

Rutland's new local authority is one of 38 unitary councils for which Mr Reed unveiled plans on Thursday.

It will form a ring around Leicester and include towns such as Hinckley, Loughborough and Melton Mowbray.

Leicester City will be kept as a separate unitary authority.

Ms Kearns said despite the Government not listening to local residents, she was "not done fighting".

While Christine Wise, the Liberal Democrat leader of Rutland County Council said: "I think most people in Rutland would have preferred to be left alone.

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"We are a very effective and efficient unitary council already."

Ms Wise also said Rutlanders would "absolutely work" to retain their unique identity after the authority participated in the local government reorganisation process.

Rutland has a population of around 41,000 - far short of the 500,000 person-per-council target ministers set.

Rutland County Council joined with seven district authorities - set to be abolished - to call for three unitary authorities spanning the region, named North, City and South.

The changes will affect 15 million people and abolish 134 district and county councils.

Several counties will be divided into four smaller authorities - namely Devon, Hertfordshire, Lancashire and Lincolnshire, while Oxfordshire will be split into three.

A further eight county councils will be split in two.

Sir James Cleverly, Shadow Local Government Secretary, accused the Government of partisan decision-making in forming new councils.

He said: "If he wanted accusations of gerrymandering to be put aside, why on earth did he create such a clearly gerrymandered set of boundaries?"

Mr Reed shot down the allegations of gerrymandering and said the "majority of proposals" had cross-party support.

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