Council Tax (New Valuation Lists for England) Bill

I could not have put it better myself. In my area, where the majority of properties are in band D or below, we would have been real losers under the Liberals’ local income tax policies. I want to offer my hon. Friend the Minister for Local Government a few more ideas, as he takes forward the Bill and associated processes, including the Lyons review. We should look at the idea of funding police authorities separately from the local authority process, especially if we move to regional police authorities. There is something to be said for giving 100 per cent. national funding to such local authorities. They must be flexible in their deployment, however. Although police forces may move towards regionalisation at the higher level, they are also moving towards neighbourhood policing at the local level. I expect to see such trends throughout local government services.