After a busy morning in the office, I headed to London for another week in parliament. I had to attend an statutory instrument at 1630, but spend most of the afternoon working on Dorset County Council's impending funding crisis. In essence, Government proposals mean that DCC will have to find savings of £20 milion rather than £13 million. For an authority which has already made savings of £100 million, this is a big ask, and unexpected. In fact the problem is so serious that I attended a private meeting with Greg Clark, the Secretary of State, in the Tea Room at 1830. I wasn't the only MP queuing to see him! Simultaneously, backbenchers were debated local government funding in the Chamber. I was told later that feelings ran high in this debate, with my colleague Simon Hoare speaking up for DCC. I have since written a pretty blunt letter to Mr Clark saying the current situation is not acceptable. I understand that DCC's leader, Cllr Robert Gould, is to meet Mr Clark this Thursday. Let's hope progress can be made.