Contributions
979 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD Capital Projects: Spending DecisionsI refer the hon. Lady to my answers at the outset, which explained very clearly the changes and how there is no ultimate change to what is being spent in communities up and down…09 Feb 2023HANSARD Capital Projects: Spending DecisionsI am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for Stretford and Urmston for his point. He will know, because he has long experience in local government, that that would be a crude and…09 Feb 2023HANSARD Capital Projects: Spending DecisionsThe information about the distribution of levelling-up funds has been published. I have seen, across Yorkshire and north Derbyshire in the coalfields that the hon. Gentleman and I…09 Feb 2023HANSARD Capital Projects: Spending DecisionsI am grateful to the Chair of the Select Committee, my constituency neighbour in South Yorkshire and north Derbyshire, for his comments. We had a similar exchange yesterday on the…09 Feb 2023HANSARD Capital Projects: Spending DecisionsMy hon. Friend is absolutely right. We are seeking to transform areas, including mine, that were ignored for far too long, but are doing so in a way that works for the Government…09 Feb 2023HANSARD Capital Projects: Spending DecisionsWe are happy to talk to councils about the challenges that they face, and we are happy to accept that inflation is a challenge. This is one of the reasons we need to get inflation…09 Feb 2023HANSARD Capital Projects: Spending DecisionsI should be happy to meet the hon. Gentleman, along with the Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, my hon. Friend the Member for Bishop Auckland…09 Feb 2023HANSARD Capital Projects: Spending DecisionsJust for clarity, the Treasury signs off budgets across Departments without any issue, as it has done under the Labour party, the coalition and the Conservative party. The hon.…09 Feb 2023HANSARD Local Government FinanceI welcome the hon. Gentleman to his place. He brings long experience in local government, and I look forward to working with him in the coming months. To answer his question…08 Feb 2023HANSARD Local Government FinanceMy message to the very discerning residents of St Albans and elsewhere is not to listen to this attempt to conflate the challenges that occurred, which we accept and have…08 Feb 2023HANSARD Local Government FinanceI am grateful to the hon. Member for St Helens South and Whiston (Ms Rimmer), who has a long career in local government; I defer to her knowledge and experience. I absolutely…08 Feb 2023HANSARD Local Government FinanceMy hon. Friend raises an important point. In any system where councils have the opportunity to do things, the vast majority will do the right thing—achieving and focusing on the…08 Feb 2023HANSARD Local Government FinanceAs my hon. Friend has indicated, we are shortly to begin an assurance review of governance arrangements within Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council, and we look forward to…08 Feb 2023HANSARD Local Government FinanceI will make a little more progress and then I will happily give way to a number of colleagues. We have also set a core referendum principle of up to 3%, plus 2% for the adult…08 Feb 2023HANSARD Local Government FinanceI would not believe everything written in the press. As we do all the way through the year and through all these projects, we work very closely with the Treasury, and we ensure…08 Feb 2023HANSARD Local Government FinanceI will happily give way to the hon. Gentleman from Liverpool.08 Feb 2023HANSARD Local Government FinanceI will make a little progress and then I will happily give way to more hon. Members. Throughout, we have been mindful of the squeeze on household budgets and how it is being felt…08 Feb 2023HANSARD Local Government FinanceThat is exactly the intention behind what we are confirming today. Local government does a brilliant job every single day all across the land, and we are seeking to give it the…08 Feb 2023HANSARD Local Government FinanceNo, I do not agree. I encourage hon. Members from the Liverpool area to focus on the fundamental problems that are occurring in their councils and on the reasons why the…08 Feb 2023HANSARD Local Government FinanceThe Treasury certainly has not stopped anybody doing capital spending; we need only look at the amount of money going out of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and…08 Feb 2023