Paul Farrelly
Main Page: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)Department Debates - View all Paul Farrelly's debates with the HM Treasury
(11 years, 5 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr Osborne
I hope that all local authorities take it up, but ultimately that is a matter for them—that is local democracy.
Paul Farrelly (Newcastle-under-Lyme) (Lab)
From 2006, the Conservative and Liberal Democrats who used to run Newcastle borough council spent all of our £50 million reserves. In dictating a further indiscriminate 10% cut across the board to local government, how carefully has the Chancellor considered its impact, council by council, on their ability to provide decent basic public services and to give discretionary support to valued community groups and organisations?
Mr Osborne
We are giving local councils more freedom, including some more flexibility in the use of assets, particularly where they want to spend to save. The broader point is that if all the changes in local government and social care I announced are taken into account, the change for local government is more like minus 2%—still difficult, but I think that good local councils can continue to deliver excellent local services.