Helen Goodman
Main Page: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)(13 years, 2 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Mr Speaker
Order. The hon. Gentleman will resume his seat. His question has absolutely nothing to do with the responsibilities of the Government.
Helen Goodman (Bishop Auckland) (Lab)
The Secretary of State seems to have delayed the inquiry into the localisation of business rates. If it went ahead, Westminster would gain £1 billion and Durham would lose £80 million. What is he going to do to mitigate that, or is that in fact his intention?
Mr Pickles
Of course, there is going to be considerable equalisation, but it seems to me that:
“Local business concerns are critical to good local government. There are sound democratic reasons why, in principle, the business rate should be set locally, not nationally.”
That expresses the point best, and I would have thought there would be consensus on it right across the Chamber as, after all, those are the very words of the Labour party’s 1997 manifesto.
The Minister for Housing and Local Government (Grant Shapps)
My hon. Friend is pushing at an interesting point. It will be for democracy at a local level to decide what happens. His constituents can rely on him and their own wherewithal to decide to vote for the party that will provide the right level of housing rather than overdevelopment.
Helen Goodman (Bishop Auckland) (Lab)
T3. Earlier this morning we heard that HSBC is paying its top banker £5 million. By chance, that is exactly the amount of money needed in my constituency to complete the Decent Homes programme. Will the Minister for Housing meet me to discuss how we might make that happen, so that 1,000 people can live in decent homes?
Grant Shapps
Just before the recess I announced a series of spending pledges for the Decent Homes standard which added up to £2.1 billion. I am happy to meet the hon. Lady to discuss how best to take the project forward in her constituency.