Local Government Finance

Graham Stringer Excerpts

Wednesday 9th February 2011 Commons Chamber

[Caroline Flint]

We can all trade examples, so let me provide the hon. Gentleman with one from Hammersmith and Fulham council—one of the Secretary of State’s favourites. Is it acceptable to hire for £1,000 a day a consultant who has already been retired, on a £50,000-a-year pension, on grounds of ill health from another council?

Value for money and accountability for senior pay are important, which is why we supported those elements in the Localism Bill—but we are going further than the Government suggested, and we hope to gain support for that. However, the reality is that for all the grandstanding on this issue, it does not make a dent in the amount that councils have to find to deal with the front-loaded cuts that the Government have chosen to impose on them.

[Graham Stringer (Blackley and Broughton) (Lab)]

My right hon. Friend mentioned the letter sent by the Under-Secretary to Lib Dem councillors on Stockport council; she will be aware that his postage bill will go down quickly, as Lib Dems are leaving the Lib Dem group because they know the truth about this settlement. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the Secretary of State is talking nonsense when he speaks about giving power to local authorities and being fair, because local democracy is, in fact, taking a much bigger cut than his own central Government Department?

[Caroline Flint]

My hon. Friend has made a very good point about the unfairness of the cuts. The Government are passporting the blame on to local councils, and that is not fair. My hon. Friend, like other Labour Members, has long experience of local government that can inform our debate. We are in touch with local government, which is one of the big differences between us and those on the Government Benches.