Local Government Finance (England)

Debate between Diana Johnson and Julie Hilling

Wednesday 13th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Diana Johnson]

I will not give way to the Minister because I only have a few minutes and he will have lots of time to peddle his view of what he believes is happening. It is clear that areas such as Newcastle, Manchester and Birmingham are being disproportionately hit.

[Julie Hilling]

These figures are calculated as a per capita cut. My hon. Friend may be interested to know that the citizens of West Dorset are getting only a £47.44 cut.

[Diana Johnson]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for providing that figure. As I said, that compares with the cumulative figure over four years of £228.36 for Hull residents, and that is just not fair. The case that I am putting to the Government is that they need to think again if they want to rebalance the economies of the north and the south. This is just another hammer blow to economic regeneration in the north, and to cities standing up and paying their own way. It will not help my city of Hull, which is struggling at the moment. Just before Christmas we saw 1,200 job losses in the local area from the private sector.

I pay tribute to the work of Hull city councillors who are trying to work with the budget they have been given by the Government. They have been put in a very difficult position. My hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield South East (Mr Betts), the Chair of the Communities and Local Government Committee, set out clearly the important work that local councils do on environmental health and trading standards, and in looking after some of the most vulnerable and damaged young people in our society—looked-after children, and elderly and disabled people who need social care. The councillors in Hull are doing their best to make sure that they can cover as much of those services as possible, but the Government are making it completely impossible to provide the kind of services we need in an area with such disadvantage.