Business of the House

Andrew Jones Excerpts

Thursday 8th January 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hague]

GP access is extremely important to people all over the country. All Members of Parliament understand that extremely well, and I hope that NHS England will respond quickly to the concerns that the hon. Gentleman raised on behalf of his constituents. There are questions to Health Ministers next week in the House, so he will be able to raise the matter with them directly if he has not achieved satisfaction for his constituents before then.

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

Yesterday Harrogate borough council confirmed its plans to deliver a sixth successive annual council tax freeze, taking advantage of the support from the Government to help it do that. May we have a debate to consider what we can do to encourage and support more local authorities to set fair and sound budgets that are sound for local taxpayers as well?

[Mr Hague]

My hon. Friend’s council is a good example of setting sound budgets. Every part of the public sector needs to do its bit to pay off the deficit left by the previous Government, including local government, which accounts for a quarter of all public spending. We have been working hard to give hard-working people greater financial security by keeping the council tax down so that the local government settlement that was introduced in December is fair to all parts of the country. It helps councils to do that, including freezing council tax bills, and that is a tremendous contrast with the doubling of council tax bills that took place under the previous Government.