Thursday 14th November 2024

(2 days, 14 hours ago)

Commons Chamber
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Matthew Pennycook Portrait Matthew Pennycook
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I thank my hon. Friend for that point, and I will relay it to the Local Government Minister. On the general principle, we are determined to rebuild local government from the ground up. That is why we are providing multi-year funding settlements to councils and removing a number of ringfences, and are committed, as I said, to fair funding. On his general point about the Opposition, I completely agree. It reminds me of a phrase my nan used to use: “More front than Harrods,” she used to say. That is what Opposition Members have.

John Glen Portrait John Glen (Salisbury) (Con)
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Will the Minister rule out additional council tax bands being among any changes that the Government make?

Matthew Pennycook Portrait Matthew Pennycook
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I say to the right hon. Gentleman that we are not talking about council tax bands in this urgent question; we are talking about the thresholds that remain in place. We are committed to those thresholds. As I am sure you would expect, Mr Speaker, we will set out more details about the local government finance settlement at the appropriate point next year, in the usual way.