David Nuttall
Main Page: David Nuttall (Conservative - Bury North)
Kris Hopkins
It is the lowest level of this Parliament. We can achieve that because we are in a far better economic situation than we were when we came to power. More money may have been taken from this particular area of public service, but the fact is it represents a quarter of all public service, which is significant. I do not relish the idea of taking money off councils, especially as people are working extremely hard to deliver quality services. I say to the hon. Gentleman that he served in a Government who crashed the economy and we are picking up the pieces. We want to support local councils, and I would be proud to work with them to deliver quality services.
Mr David Nuttall (Bury North) (Con)
Bury council constantly claims that it has not had a fair deal. Will the Minister please confirm for the record that neither he nor his officials have picked on Bury council for special treatment and that Bury council is funded on exactly the same basis as every other council regardless of whether it is in the north or the south and of which party controls the council?
Kris Hopkins
I thank my hon. Friend for his question. The economy in the north is thriving and local authorities are leading the way. What I said in the statement was that we offer a fair deal to all areas—whether north or south, rural or urban. If the local authority is not content with what it has been offered, it should come and speak to me. I will be speaking to local authorities in the new year, and I am more than willing to talk to Bury about its council settlement.