Contributions
1,009 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD Local Government FinanceI believe the hon. Lady has had several meetings with my colleague the Minister for Local Government. It is right and very important that we should align funding with need; that…11 Feb 2026HANSARD Local Government FinanceI certainly agree that the Lib Dems should share the blame for austerity. I was a council leader while the Lib Dems and Tories were in coalition together. I think they cut our…11 Feb 2026HANSARD Local Government FinanceAt core, what we are hearing from all parts of the House at the moment is people’s views on the fact that under the previous Government, the alignment between funding and…11 Feb 2026HANSARD Local Government FinanceI have taken an awful lot of interventions so far, and I do not want to leave no time, but I will take one last intervention.11 Feb 2026HANSARD Local Government FinanceThe settlement follows a funding formula and takes account of the costs of delivering food waste recycling in the way that the hon. Gentleman described earlier.11 Feb 2026HANSARD Local Government FinanceWell, the easy answer to that is that it has not been; it is still there. Above all, this settlement is about fairness, because this Government reject the Tory belief that our…11 Feb 2026HANSARD Local Government FinanceI will take one more intervention and then make progress.11 Feb 2026HANSARD Local Government FinanceI thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. What he is seeing is the realignment of funding with deprivation, and that is as it should be.11 Feb 2026HANSARD Local Government FinanceI will give way one last time.11 Feb 2026HANSARD Local Government FinanceI am going to make some progress, I am afraid. There are a few councils facing extremely challenging financial pressures that the previous Government turned into a crisis by…11 Feb 2026HANSARD Local Government FinanceI am grateful for the hon. Gentleman’s words about Pride in Place. I am glad that he has answered the question of the hon. Member for Spelthorne (Lincoln Jopp), because that money…11 Feb 2026HANSARD Local Government FinanceI am afraid the hon. Gentleman has misunderstood how it works. An area does not get diluted. The scheme looks at super-output areas on a very small level so we can ensure that the…11 Feb 2026HANSARD Local Government FinanceI have taken an awful lot of interventions, more from the opposite side of the House than from my own side, so with your kindness, Madam Deputy Speaker, I will make a little…11 Feb 2026HANSARD Local Government FinanceI thank my hon. Friend for recognising that funding is now following deprivation. He will find the answer to his question in the homelessness strategy, which I will come to. […11 Feb 2026HANSARD Local Government FinanceI want to make some progress, because I have taken quite a lot of interventions, but I will give way before I conclude. Local government is still under pressure, and we will not…11 Feb 2026HANSARD Local Government FinanceI will give way to the hon. Gentleman so that he can apologise for that.11 Feb 2026HANSARD Local Government FinanceBefore I begin, I notify the House that the local government finance report has been updated with small corrections on pages 7 and 13. These corrections have been passed on to the…11 Feb 2026HANSARD Local Government FinanceI thought the hon. Gentleman was going to stand up and apologise to the House for what his Government did in diverting money away from the poorest communities. I am very…11 Feb 2026HANSARD Local Government FinanceI beg to move, That the Local Government Finance Report (England) 2026-27 (HC 1604), which was laid before this House on 9 February, be approved.11 Feb 2026HANSARD Local Government FinanceI agree with the Chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee that council tax cannot be the only means to fix these problems. That is why we have increased…11 Feb 2026