Andy McDonald
Main Page: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Mr Pickles
I commend East Hampshire and Havant councils for their excellent work together. To be frank, this is the future, whether we are talking about a relatively small district, a county or a unitary authority. It makes sense to work together on joint procurement, joint use of offices and shared services. That is probably one of the reasons why the recent BBC ICM poll shows that in many areas resident satisfaction in services such as rubbish collection, schools and libraries is improving.
Andy McDonald (Middlesbrough) (Lab)
The Prime Minister says that we are all in this together, but between 2010-11 and 2012-13 his local authority of West Oxfordshire—one of the least deprived in the country—is losing only £34 per head, compared with Hackney, the most deprived area in the country, which faces a massive cut of £266, and my constituency, which faces a cut of £234. Does the Secretary of State think that is fair and will he reassure the House that the local government financial settlement for 2013-14 will narrow the gap?
Mr Pickles
If the hon. Gentleman is going to ask a Whips’ question, he should at least try to memorise it. He will know that the top-spending authorities, which are largely Labour authorities, are getting something like an extra £700 per household. To compare a tiny district council with his own is utterly ridiculous.