Extra funding secured for the Isle of Wight is not enough and wasn't thanks to the Island's MP, the council leader has said today.

Cllr Phil Jordan, Isle of Wight Council leader and part of the Alliance Administration, said the £4 million of extra funding wasn't secured by Conservative MP Bob Seely.

Cllr Jordan said the uplift, in any case not determined until next month, was the result of work by council senior officers including the S151 financial officer.

He said they "spent hundreds of hours of work time, produced copious documents, written supporting letters and emails, had meetings and engaged with the government department in providing data and evidence to support and demonstrate the extra costs involved in delivering services on our Island as opposed to the same service delivery on the mainland." 

Council officers, through the chief executive, overseen by the chief financial officer, have been in ongoing dialogue and responding to and answering repeated questions from government - something Cllr Jordan explained in his monthly County Press column recently.

Cllr Jordan then and today cited that the council received a letter from the then Minister for Local Government, Lee Rowley, thanking the council for the process, engagement and work put in, confirming that he accepted the Island had a case for claiming additional costs. 

There was disappointment when it seemed the Island would only receive £1 million, but Mr Seely announced last week there would be an extra £3 million on top.

The MP said: "When I became MP I pledged to get a better funding settlement. That’s what I, working with others, have delivered. I am glad that we’ve been able to secure additional funds for the council.

"This followed my lobbying the Prime Minister and other senior ministers in the past week.

"The £4 million per year should now be viewed as the new benchmark. The £4 million a year equates to £16 million over a council term.

"Clearly, I will try to add to that figure in future settlements. I am always going to be campaigning for a better deal for the Island.

"Thank you to council officers who helped make our case, and also the previous leader of the council, Lora Peacey-Wilcox, who worked with me last summer on this."

Cllr Jordan responded today: "I feel duty bound to support and defend all our council team who have given so much time and effort to this process and who have been the real reason government could no longer ignore our pleas for additional funding. 

"That the MP wants to claim he has secured the funding is a complete distortion of the facts. This task has been entirely a council led process from start to finish.

"That said, this money is clearly not the so-called Island Deal. Council demonstrated to government that it would need between £10m and £28m of additional funding to simply balance up our inequality with the mainland.  

"In the context that the council has made continuing cuts and cost savings of over £97m since 2010, £3m doesn’t represent any such Island Deal and falls well short of expectation."