Petitions

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering Excerpts

Monday 4th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Annette Brooke (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

I am handing in a petition in the same terms from the Purbeck part of my constituency and other neighbouring Purbeck wards. The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urge the Government to reduce the rural penalty in staged steps by at least 10% by 2020.

The Petition of the residents of Wareham, Dorset.

[P001251]

[Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

It gives me great pleasure to petition the House on behalf of the residents of Thirsk and Malton. They believe that the local government finance settlement is unfair to rural communities, and note that the rural penalty sees urban areas receive 50% more support per head than rural areas, despite higher costs in rural service delivery. May it please the House to note that the Select Committee that I have the honour to chair has recently produced a report on this same issue, and that we have received a very disappointing Government response. I hope that we can link our report to these fair share petitions.

The Petition of the residents of Thirsk and Malton.

[P001252]

[Sir Alan Beith (Berwick-upon-Tweed) (LD)]

I wish to present this important petition from my constituency, much of which comprises the most sparsely populated area of England. It suffers from being linked with a unitary authority and therefore has an even worse rural penalty in some of its rural areas. I draw these matters to the attention of the Secretary of State as I bring the petition to the attention of the House.

The Petition of the residents of Berwick-upon-Tweed constituency.

[P001255]