Liz McInnes
Main Page: Liz McInnes (Labour - Heywood and Middleton)
Greg Clark
Rochdale has benefited from the change to the methodology that we put in place, and the representative organisation for the metropolitan authorities has welcomed the change. The council has benefited from the local government settlement, and the hon. Gentleman should welcome that.
Liz McInnes (Heywood and Middleton) (Lab)
Following this weekend’s revelation that the Government have targeted the working poor because they do not vote Tory, will the Secretary of State admit that the same warped thinking led him to hand £465,000 of transitional funding to Tory-run Trafford council and nothing to Labour-controlled Manchester and Rochdale?
Greg Clark
I would have thought that an Opposition spokesman would make herself familiar with the settlement. Both councils that the hon. Lady mentioned have benefited from the change in methodology. The council that her colleague, the hon. Member for Croydon North (Mr Reed), used to lead—Lambeth Council, which was Labour last time I checked—specifically called for this transitional measure, saying:
“Transitional measures are usually employed where a new distribution methodology is introduced to ensure significant shifts are not experienced…The Council believes this is sensible on the basis that…those benefitting are not adversely affected.”
That is exactly what we have done.