John Healey
Main Page: John Healey (Labour - Rawmarsh and Conisbrough)(11 years, 11 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Mr Pickles
I will watch the council’s progress with interest and our thoughts will be with the council tax payers at the ballot.
John Healey (Wentworth and Dearne) (Lab)
Death and danger from fire do not discriminate, but the Secretary of State did in his first funding settlement by giving six southern fire authorities a rise in funding and the six metropolitan areas a deep cut. Why has he not done what he has done with the police and what MPs from all parties have urged him to do and given a flat, fair, across-the-board cut for all fire authorities in this settlement? Why is he continuing to hit the north harder than the south?
Mr Pickles
The mets benefit considerably from this settlement. The right hon. Gentleman is a serious Member of this House and deserves a serious answer. He will recall that the reduction in police funding was front-loaded and that that for firefighters and emergency services was back-loaded. One of the reasons why we have set up the Knight review is to arrive at that equilibrium and to offer fire authorities some help in that process.