Local Government Finance

I am afraid that I cannot give way to Conservative Members, because I must conclude my remarks. I must also tell the hon. Lady that the Liberal council in Newcastle declared reserves of £100 million at the end of the last financial year. What was that money for, except a rainy day? According to her logic the rainy day has arrived, but the £100 million is in reserve. We must do better. We must come back next year and see where the Government have got to in recognising population change, in providing local authorities with an incentive to grow business, in funding schools and children's services, and in funding care. Again, I tell the hon. Lady that since the Liberal Democrats took over in Newcastle we have lost 1,000 children from our schools. Another 1,000 children go over the border each day to be educated in other authorities. We would have had an extra £8 million a year in our schools had it not been for the combined effect of that. For the moment, my hon. Friend is on notice in respect of what he must do in the next 12 months. I shall tell my constituents in Newcastle that in dealing with those issues through the local council we should freeze the cuts, the increases in top management, the use of consultants, and council tax for the next year. We should look closely at the council's reserves. Local and national Government are now under question. I ask questions of the local council and the Government tonight. Over the next year, we will seek to resolve those issues.