Henry Smith
Main Page: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Caroline Flint
The constituency of the leader of the Labour party is actually Doncaster North not Doncaster Central.
As I opened the debate, I did not hesitate for a moment to say that reductions and cuts would have had to be made. The question is how much, how deep and how fast. It is not just Labour politicians who are saying that; the chair of the Local Government Association, Baroness Eaton, a Conservative peer said:
“The unexpected severity of the cuts that will have to be made next year will put many councils in an unprecedented and difficult position.”
I could not have put it better myself.
Henry Smith
The right hon. Lady said that we are apparently yet to see any localism or devolution to local government, but does she concede that greater flexibilities and the ending of the ring-fencing of many budgets will give exactly the flexibilities that many local communities need? It will certainly be welcomed by my local authority, West Sussex county council, which suffered eight years of the lowest possible Government settlements under the previous Government.
Caroline Flint
I recognise the hon. Gentleman’s experience in local government; I believe he was leader of West Sussex county council.
The Secretary of State says that local councils have a choice:
“They can panic; they can slash and burn services regardless of the impact that will have. Or they can take the opportunity to completely rethink everything they are doing, creating a modern, flexible and innovative council.”
Councils should be modern and should embrace flexibility and innovation, but by imposing such huge, unprecedented front-loaded cuts on them he denies them that very choice. How can councils completely rethink everything in a matter of a few weeks?