Gordon Marsden (Blackpool South, Labour)
The Secretary of State asks why these points are being raised by the Opposition, but he and his colleagues have a record on this issue. The figures and cuts that the Government Front-Bench team produced in June, with the abolition of area-based grants and various other measures, disproportionately hit the parts of the country that we have been talking about.
Eric Pickles (Secretary of State, Communities and Local Government; Brentwood and Ongar, Conservative)
The hon. Gentleman is well aware that in the emergency Budget we had to prevent money that had not been paid out from being paid-it is difficult to take money from areas that have not received any at all. He seems to think that we live in a vacuum. Has he seen what has gone on in other parts of the continent and the problems that other Governments face? Had we not taken these decisions we could have found ourselves in precisely the same position.
Robert Halfon (Harlow, Conservative)
Would not councils have had a lot more money in recent years if they had not had to spend millions on ridiculous inspection regimes?
Eric Pickles (Secretary of State, Communities and Local Government; Brentwood and Ongar, Conservative)
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. As part of the deal in which local government will have less money and more power, we will reduce the number of unnecessary regimes.
Hazel Blears (Salford and Eccles, Labour)
I am glad that the right hon. Gentleman has got back to reality regarding what, if anything, can be done to mitigate the impact of the cuts on some of the poorest communities. I put to him again the issue of national non-domestic rates. He said that there would not be a surplus until 2012-13.
Gordon! What part of the country are you talking about? Blackpool, whose electorate supposedly pay you, or Brighton, where you spend most of your time?
And Hazel, if you are so innocent why haven't you sued the Telegraph for all those articles they published about your house manoeuvres?
Hazel-nut.
ReplyDelete