Local Government Finance

Debate between Hilary Benn and Jim Cunningham

Tuesday 10th February 2015 Commons Chamber

[Hilary Benn]

I have no intention of depriving the hon. and learned Gentleman’s local authority of CIL income, but as he raises the new homes bonus, I shall be straight and direct with him. I shall come on to this in a moment—in fact, if he will bear with me, I shall come to that point about the new homes bonus and set out why it needs to change.

[Mr Jim Cunningham]

A good illustration of what is happening in local government can be seen in Coventry, at University hospital. Cuts in the care budget have led to bed blocking, and now there are also cuts in the welfare budget. The Government say that they are trying to be gentle with local government, but does my right hon. Friend not agree that they are actually putting the boot in?

[Hilary Benn]

I agree and I shall come to that point, too, when I talk about the consequences of what has happened for health and social care more generally.

Firefighters’ Pension Scheme (England)

Debate between Hilary Benn and Jim Cunningham

Monday 15th December 2014 Commons Chamber

[Hilary Benn]

I do not agree with the hon. Lady, because when the 2006 regulations were introduced they made provision for that retirement age. The difference and the reason that there was no industrial action in 2006 was that firefighters felt that other jobs were available for those who could not maintain operational fitness. As I shall say in a moment, those jobs do not exist anymore.

[Mr Jim Cunningham (Coventry South) (Lab)]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that one of the reasons this Government cannot reach agreement on local government pension schemes in particular is that they are vindictive towards public services in general? We should also bear it in mind that this country’s fire service in general has suffered massive cuts under this Government.

[Hilary Benn]

My hon. Friend’s latter point is absolutely correct. It is very clear from this debate and the campaign that is being waged that Ministers have completely failed to win the confidence of firefighters.

Business of the House (Thursday)

Debate between Hilary Benn and Jim Cunningham

Wednesday 8th December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Hilary Benn]

I agree with my hon. Friend, but the answer lies in the hands of the Leader of the House, who has shown a willingness tonight to devote more time to debating the allocation of time than he is prepared to give to debating the proposals themselves.

[Mr Jim Cunningham (Coventry South) (Lab)]

Some of us have universities in our constituencies, and many students will be coming down here tomorrow. It is no wonder that students are adopting an angry attitude in the streets when they find out we will have only five hours for the debate. When the Government were in opposition, they used to complain about our guillotines, and we always gave way on time. I am surprised that the Leader of the House, who is usually a reasonable man, has taken us down this road.

[Hilary Benn]

I agree. I have a great deal of respect for the Leader of the House, but I must say that I do not think he has done his job properly on this occasion.