Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Lord Pickles and Andy Sawford
Mr Pickles
We localised council tax support, which had continued to grow under Labour. If the hon. Lady is making a commitment to repay that money and put it back, that is interesting. It was costing taxpayers £4 billion a year. It is important that the most vulnerable are protected and councils have the ability to keep the savings they want and invest them in the community. I urge the hon. Lady to give her own council a talking to and to get it sorted out.
Andy Sawford (Corby) (Lab/Co-op)
The Secretary of State’s answer is not good enough. [Interruption.] Government Members are inviting me to comment on a constituency issue, but I am sure you would want me to be espresso, Mr Speaker. The Secretary of State says there is a freeze, but is it not true that lots of councils, including many Conservative authorities such as that of the Prime Minister, are putting council tax up and that the poorest across the country are getting an increase this year because of the cut to council tax support? When will the Secretary of State admit that it is not a freeze, but a sham?
Mr Pickles
The hon. Gentleman should, to be frank, wake up and smell the Costa coffee. [Interruption.] I am sure I can do better than that, but I am not entirely sure that the hon. Gentleman can. What we have offered to councils is an opportunity to freeze, but if they want to put up their council tax, that is a matter for them. It seems strange that the increases are just below the referendum threshold. Why do they not show the courage of their commitments and go for 5%, 6% or 7%? I am sure that is what would happen if they were given the chance. We only have to look at Labour in Wales to see council tax going up. Let them show some courage and not be democracy dodgers.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Lord Pickles and Andy Sawford
Andy Sawford (Corby) (Lab/Co-op)
The Secretary of State should acknowledge that across the country Tory councils are charging more—[Interruption.] I know Conservative Members do not want to hear the information from councils themselves showing that the three highest in the country are Tory-run and that in London Tory councils take twice as much off residents for parking as Labour. May I invite him to join me in congratulating Labour councils on backing their town centres?
Mr Pickles
In his previous existence, the hon. Gentleman would not have had the temerity to cite that set of figures, which can be achieved only by counting off-street parking, which means the more off-street parking a council provides—the friendlier it makes it for motorists—the worse those figures appear, so frankly I regard them as bogus. They reflect the anti-car policies of the Labour party, which consistently cut the number of parking spaces and instructed local authorities to increase car parking charges.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Lord Pickles and Andy Sawford
Mr Pickles
The hon. Lady exaggerates. The spare room subsidy is a reasonable and effective way we can ensure housing for people who need it where there is a shortage of housing. It is absolute nonsense for Labour Members to complain about empty homes: on their watch, we lost 420,000 houses in this country, and that is a disgrace.
Andy Sawford (Corby) (Lab/Co-op)
On our high streets 40,000 shops—one in seven—are sitting empty, partly because of very high business rates. Will the Secretary of State support our proposals to give local retailers an average saving of £450 a year by freezing business rates?
Mr Pickles
Under the previous Labour Government, business rates shot up. We have offered local authorities and small businesses a complete removal of business rates through discounts. Under Labour, it was much more difficult to obtain those discounts. Frankly, the hon. Gentleman has got a cheek to make that suggestion.