Local Government Finance

Lord Barwell Excerpts

Monday 13th December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Pickles]

Madam Deputy Speaker, you have asked for brevity, so I am happy to say no. A longer answer is: not a chance.

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

May I warmly welcome my right hon. Friend’s commitment to reforming the fundamentally flawed system that he has inherited? However, does he agree that in the interim, councils such as mine—which, unlike most local authorities, saw real-terms cuts under the previous Labour Government—will have a particularly hard time?

[Mr Pickles]

I do recognise that, and I apologise to my hon. Friend. I would not have wanted to start from this position; I would have wanted a fairer, more reasonable system. However, I recognise that when we start to move money around the country and change things round, we have to put in floors and ceilings. That would have been more disruptive to local government than what we are doing, which we are at least doing on the basis that we are all in this together and that we have managed to protect the most vulnerable authorities.