Beef Cattle and Sheep (Carbon Footprint)

Debate between Neil Parish and Annette Brooke

Wednesday 26th June 2013 Westminster Hall

[Ms Margaret Ritchie (South Down) (SDLP)]

Is the hon. Gentleman aware of the research that has been carried out in Northern Ireland? The greenhouse gas implementation partnership seems to agree with him that there is still a body of research yet to be carried out. The Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute in Belfast, which is working with DEFRA and the department of agriculture and fisheries for Scotland, says as part of that research that the ongoing challenges of the inclement weather present a problem.

[Annette Brooke (in the Chair)]

Thank you for that. We will keep interventions a little shorter in future.

[Neil Parish]

The hon. Lady is right, because climatic conditions will make a difference. The amount of time that an animal takes to finish grazing to become fat also makes a difference, as does the time taken to finish an animal for meat production. All such things have to be taken into consideration. Of course there are a number of ways to measure carbon.

Local Government Finance (Rural Authorities)

Debate between Neil Parish and Annette Brooke

Monday 11th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Neil Parish]

Again, one of my hon. Friends raises a good point, because this has been going on for a long time. It went on under the previous Government and, dare I say, probably went on slightly under the previous Conservative Government. In those days, I was in local government. Savings were made and we cut our cloth accordingly, but along came the Government saying, “You have been so careful with your spending that you can now cut it some more.” I wonder whether central Government recognise those authorities, such as Devon and others, that have spent money wisely and made savings, yet are asked to make further reductions. The Minister is extremely concerned to make this fair, but we need not only to talk about it, but to sort it out.

Let us consider, for instance, the amount raised in council tax. Rural authorities such as Mid Devon and East Devon, which I represent, will raise in council tax nearly twice as much as, say, a local authority such as Greenwich. Therefore, rural populations are not only not getting a fair share of grant, but have to fund much more of local government spending from council tax.

The Government spend a lot of time talking about the overall spending power of a council, but I would argue that it is how we get to that spending power that matters. If we are asking our local residents and council tax payers to provide much more of that spend via their council tax than those in urban authorities do, we in the countryside are being over-taxed and, dare I say, urban authorities are being slightly under-taxed. We were told last year that that would be put right.

[Annette Brooke (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

Will my hon. Friend consider the fact that the higher council tax paid by many rural authorities is a reflection of the increased cost of service delivery? It is hardly likely to be due to inefficiencies.

[Neil Parish]

Yes. My hon. Friend makes a good point, because there is an extra cost in delivering services in rural areas and rural authorities. However, whatever the cost of delivering a service, we cannot get away from the inequality in how much is given in Government grant to rural authorities compared to urban. I expected and still expect—I have great expectations of the Minister and of the coalition Government—the promise of equal shares for rural authorities to be delivered on.