Local Government Finance Bill

Debate between Lord Jackson of Peterborough and Jake Berry

Wednesday 31st October 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Jackson]

We must respect the unique nature and authenticity of local government. When my right hon. Friend the Chancellor reads the report and teases out its nuances, I am sure that there will be more with which he agrees than with which he disagrees.

The context of centralising business rates was the desire to give a break to businesses, which often encountered difficulties dealing with local authorities that were not business-focused and did not make protecting the interests of individual workers in growing businesses a priority, which was especially the case in places such as Liverpool and Manchester.

[Jake Berry]

I am sure that my hon. Friend accepts that the exciting aspect of the Bill, which is reflected in these Lords amendments, is that it gives local authorities a stake in making their communities a success for the first time. The hon. Member for Mid Dorset and North Poole (Annette Brooke) talked about even parish councils having a stake in making their communities a success. As a born-again centralist, does my hon. Friend welcome those things?

[Mr Jackson]

I certainly do, but the reason I am, in some respects, a born-again centralist is that I have witnessed the huge logjams that often occur in the planning system, which my hon. Friend the Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Robert Neill) knows about. There was never a more excellent local government Minister than him, and it is a great loss to local and central Government that he no longer occupies that position. However, he will do a fantastic job on behalf of his constituents as a diligent and community-focused Member.

There is an intellectual coherence in the Bill, because when we examined the regional development agencies—[Laughter.] Labour Members laugh, but the RDAs were bureaucratic and wasteful, and they failed to deliver—[Interruption.] That is absolutely true.