Local Government Finance

Jonathan Reynolds Excerpts

Monday 8th February 2016 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

I have made no assumption of reserves. In advance of the spending review, several commentators suggested that we should take account of councils’ known reserves. I resisted those calls, and it seems that it is reasonable for councils to have reserves, just as, as a nation, we are looking to create a surplus as a buffer against the ups and downs of the economy in the years ahead, which is something that the Labour party failed to do. The great advantage of a four-year settlement is that it gives that certainty to councils, so that part of the reserves that they keep against the uncertainty of year-to-year settlements is available to them, but I have made no assumptions that they will use them.

[Jonathan Reynolds (Stalybridge and Hyde) (Lab/Co-op)]

At my surgery on Friday, I met a woman who cared, on her own, for her severely disabled daughter 24 hours a day, seven days a week. She is not able even to get a decent night’s sleep. She used to receive six nights of respite care a month, but now she has been told that she will get nothing. That is the reality of the Conservative party’s treatment of local government since 2010. In Tameside, there are no more back-office functions to merge and no more staff to be made redundant. There is nothing left to cut, except the services for the people who need them most, and for them the outlook is bleak. No amount of devolution to Greater Manchester, as good as that is, can compensate for a lack of basic provision.

[Greg Clark]

May I suggest to the hon. Gentleman that he goes next door and has a cup of tea with the leader of Trafford council, which runs its services extremely efficiently? I dare say that it would be sensible of Tameside to take up any advice that the council leader is able to give.