Contributions
1,317 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDGreater Manchester Spatial Frameworkrose—21 Feb 2019HANSARDGreater Manchester Spatial FrameworkI congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Hazel Grove (Mr Wragg) on securing this debate. I will call him a friend, because although we are from different political parties, we…21 Feb 2019HANSARD Local Government FinanceMy hon. Friend is absolutely right. This is what Government Members really need to get about some of the authorities that we represent—although, to be fair, a number of…05 Feb 2019HANSARD Local Government FinanceNo, I am answering the hon. Gentleman, if he will do me the courtesy of listening. Every local area has a different council tax base. I hazard a guess—I do not have the facts in…05 Feb 2019HANSARD Local Government FinanceI will give way later if the hon. Gentleman will allow me. According to the Local Government Association, the change in the revenue support grant has left local services today to…05 Feb 2019HANSARD Local Government FinanceI will answer that: a third of the services are more expensive to deliver in urban areas. That is the fact. It is in the Government’s own report that was commissioned for the then…05 Feb 2019HANSARD Local Government FinanceMy hon. Friend is absolutely right. Scandalously, council tax now equates to 7% of the income of a low-income family, compared with just 1% for a higher income family. That is…05 Feb 2019HANSARD Local Government FinanceI am afraid that the hon. Gentleman has fallen into the trap that has been set by his own Ministers. We should not be talking about urban versus rural, or cities versus towns and…05 Feb 2019HANSARD Local Government FinanceMy hon. Friend is absolutely right, and she is also right that it should not be about urban versus rural, but that is what the Government have made the situation with their…05 Feb 2019HANSARD Local Government FinanceMy hon. Friend is absolutely right. I pay tribute to his council for all the hard work that it is doing in very difficult circumstances. Cuts do have consequences, and cuts that…05 Feb 2019HANSARD Local Government FinanceI will give way in a little while. I have talked about the shift of resources out of some of the most deprived communities in England. Yet contrast that with the councils that…05 Feb 2019HANSARD Local Government FinanceWe expected better from this Secretary of State and wanted to see better from this Government. I thank our dedicated council staff and our local councillors of all political…05 Feb 2019HANSARD Local Government FinanceMy hon. Friend is absolutely right. The fact is that councils are the lynchpin of the provision of proper, cohesive, joined-up services with other agencies, whether housing…05 Feb 2019HANSARD Local Government FinanceMy hon. Friend, who is a doughty champion of the people of the city of Coventry, is absolutely right. What we have seen today from this Secretary of State is smoke and mirrors. He…05 Feb 2019HANSARD Local Government FinanceMy hon. Friend makes a powerful point. Communities that need help and assistance after nine years of Tory austerity should not be offered help and assistance in return for getting…05 Feb 2019HANSARDLocal Authority FundingThere are lies, damned lies and statistics. The Minister cannot get away from the fact that poorer areas are poorer on his watch and that health inequalities are widening on his…28 Jan 2019HANSARDLocal Authority FundingSouth Cambridgeshire District Council, deprivation rank 316, has seen a spending power cut of just £21.85 per household this year compared to 2010. Knowsley Council, deprivation…28 Jan 2019