Local Government Finance Bill

Debate between Lord Watts and Lord Beamish

Tuesday 24th January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Jones]

They are. My hon. Friend mentioned that map earlier and it only has to be seen—it screams inequality and exposes what the Conservative element of this coalition is about. It does not care about areas such as Liverpool and so on but about rewarding areas in the south-east, where its voters are. That is blatantly political. I am surprised that the Liberal Democrats are going along with it, but I presume that they have written off most of their northern MPs and councils for the next election in exchange for the Deputy Prime Minister’s post. Certainly, that inequality will be there when one looks at some northern councils and I do not understand why the Liberal Democrats are going along with this given the blatant unfairness that it will lock into the system. The hon. Member for Mid Dorset and North Poole (Annette Brooke) said that she would like a review of this issue, but there is no sign that the Government want to look at or take on board anything that has been said in the House or by local Government regarding the Bill.

[Mr Watts]

The proof is in the pudding, is it not? Not one council that has a high level of deprivation supports this measure and the only ones that do are those with very low levels of deprivation.

[Mr Jones]

That is right. This issue is highly political. All credit to the Secretary of State—he knows exactly what he is doing. As my hon. Friend the Member for Warrington North (Helen Jones) has said from the Front Bench, the measure will end up pushing on to local councils some of the tough decisions on spending that will have to be taken. There are two ways of dealing with this—increasing local rates or cutting services—but that will be happening at a time when demand for local government services in deprived areas such as some of those my hon. Friend the Member for St Helens North (Mr Watts) represents is going up. One has only to look at some of the statistics we have heard on Second Reading and in our debates in Committee. Demand for adult services and other services in County Durham, south Tyneside and Liverpool, for example, will be a lot higher than in Surrey and the south-east.

I do not know what the Government have to fear from the reset being on a five-yearly or three-yearly basis. They think they can lock that unfairness into the system, and it is clear that when local people realise that not only are their services going to be cut but they face council tax increases as well, the Secretary of State will say, “Oh, well, it’s your profligate local council that’s doing this.” But in fact, the problem is the system of local government finance being introduced that will directly cause that. We need to keep repeating that point. It is quite clear that the Local Government Association and even some Conservative councils are working on the basis that what the Secretary of State says is not always true. For example, he can offer money for the freeze in council tax, but only for three years. If people take that, they have to realise that there is no guarantee about what they will get just before the next general election.

The measures build in unfairness and we need to make sure that the Minister explains why the period will be 10 years. That figure seems to have been plucked out of thin air—there is no justification for it and local governments do not support it—so what is the rationale behind it? The Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, the hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Robert Neill) said earlier that there could be in-year adjustments for councils that fall on hard times in terms of their business rate income going down, and that is mentioned in the Bill, but we have not seen exactly how that will be distributed. There is no guarantee that a council faced with large redundancies and the closure of a big provider of local business rate will get any benefit at all, because it will be down to the Secretary of State’s determination. On present form, it seems quite clear what the Secretary of State will be doing—looking after Conservative councils.

Local Government Finance Bill

Debate between Lord Watts and Lord Beamish

Wednesday 18th January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Jones]

I totally agree with my hon. Friend. It is a double whammy for local authorities, really, as even if they could keep some of the money and use it for incentivisation, the huge proposed cut through the 10% reduction in council tax benefit that they will have to administer will fall disproportionately on areas with large numbers of unemployed people and the elderly. Absorbing that will be very difficult for a lot of councils, certainly in the hard economic times we are in at the moment. As unemployment goes up, the pressures on the councils will increase, too.

[Mr Watts]

Is it not the case that if a deprived local authority gets less grant, one way or the other, it will still have to provide the key services that my hon. Friend refers to, which will mean that it will have less money for economic development initiatives in its areas? That will go counter to the Government’s stated intention for this proposal.