Baroness Fullbrook
Main Page: Baroness Fullbrook (Conservative - Life peer)
Kris Hopkins
A consultation finished on 28 March to discuss that and carbon monoxide detectors. We will share our deliberations on the matter shortly.
Lorraine Fullbrook (South Ribble) (Con)
13. What estimate he has made of the average saving to families paying band D council tax from the Government’s council tax freeze policy.
The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr Eric Pickles)
Our council tax freeze schemes could be worth up to £1,075 for an average band D household in England over the lifetime of this Parliament.
Lorraine Fullbrook
Despite the efforts of the Conservative administration in South Ribble, who have frozen council tax again for the fourth time in five years, my constituents are still facing a rise in council tax because of Labour-controlled Lancashire county council’s decision to increase its part of the council tax by a referendum-dodging 1.99%. Does my right hon. Friend agree that this rise is unjustified and that Labour politicians in county hall are the same old Labour, raising taxes for hard-working local people?
Mr Pickles
South Ribble deserves a lot of praise for freezing council tax four years on the trot. That is very welcome indeed. It is strange that a number of authorities, the majority of them Labour, have come in at 1.98% or 1.99%. In a way, that undermines their claim that local government funding is inadequate. If it was inadequate, I am confident that they would have gone for a larger increase in council tax.