Contributions
1,690 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD Policing (England and Wales)Why is the Minister not just honest with the public? There is this idea that the Government are giving the record sums that she is mentioning, but that is just not the case. They…24 Feb 2020HANSARD Local Government Finance (England)That has to be what we want local government to do. The Chairman of the Select Committee, my hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield South East (Mr Betts), said that, too. It is no…24 Feb 2020HANSARD Local Government Finance (England)In a minute. If he wants to say that he does not welcome county council jobs to Crook, that is fine; I will have them in Chester-le-Street.24 Feb 2020HANSARD Local Government Finance (England)Wait a minute. It was built in the 1960s, it is full of asbestos and it is very energy-inefficient. If he wants to put capital—public money—into it, fine, but it will not happen,…24 Feb 2020HANSARDOrganised Waste CrimeI welcome the Minister’s answer, but I must tell her that landfill tax fraud is a multi-million pound business. From my experience in the north-east of England, where there is…06 Feb 2020HANSARDLocal Government FinanceI give way first to my hon. Friend, as I always call him—the hon. Member for Thirsk and Malton (Kevin Hollinrake).05 Feb 2020HANSARDLocal Government FinanceIt is not just about social care. County Durham, under the formula that is proposed, is likely to lose £39 million in public health funding, whereas Surrey County Council will…05 Feb 2020HANSARDLocal Government FinanceI will give way in a minute; I know the Minister gets very excited when I make speeches. The other issue is the ability of local councils to raise finance through, for example,…05 Feb 2020HANSARDLocal Government FinanceWill my hon. Friend give way?05 Feb 2020HANSARDLocal Government FinanceDurham County Council has lost £224 million in core spending since 2010, and the Government’s direction of travel has been to move the expenditure on to the council tax precept.…05 Feb 2020HANSARDLocal Government FinanceDoes my hon. Friend agree that local government is also fearful of last week’s rumours that the Chancellor will ask Departments to cut another 5% from their budgets?05 Feb 2020HANSARDLocal Government FinanceMy hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield South East (Mr Betts) highlighted what has been happening over the past 10 years, which is that local government as a sector has taken the…05 Feb 2020HANSARDLocal Government FinanceYes, but I have to say that in the hon. Gentleman’s area, North Yorkshire, the ability to raise council taxes is a lot better than in County Durham and others. I am not talking…05 Feb 2020HANSARDLocal Government FinanceI will give way in a minute. They don’t, because, for example, in County Durham over 50% of our properties are in band A, so, no matter how much we put up the council tax, we will…05 Feb 2020HANSARDLocal Government FinanceHooray!05 Feb 2020HANSARDLocal Government FinanceOn a point of order, Mr Speaker. I might be wrong but I thought this debate was entitled “Local Government Finance”. My hon. Friend the Member for Denton and Reddish (Andrew…05 Feb 2020HANSARDLocal Government FinanceThe hon. Member for Sedgefield (Paul Howell) is waving, but he has not been here for most of the debate.05 Feb 2020HANSARDLocal Government FinanceThe Minister says that, but then he actually has a situation such as the following one, based on the funding figures put out at the moment—I accept we have not had the final…05 Feb 2020HANSARD Rail Services: North-East EnglandMy hon. Friend makes a good point. We have seen a lot of promises recently about investment in transport infrastructure in the north, but there is a combination of two things…04 Feb 2020HANSARD Rail Services: North-East EnglandI do, and my fear about HS2 has always been that investment will be sucked out of the rest of the network. Although we have now got the magic money tree—if not an entire…04 Feb 2020