Local Government Finance Bill

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Amess. The hon. Member for Mid Dorset and North Poole (Annette Brooke) has just said that she hopes the Minister is listening. The ministerial team might well be listening but not actually taking notice. It has already been stated in the consultation with local government that the majority of councils came out against the 10-year reset time limit. I do not think that that bodes well for the future; I do not think that the leopard will suddenly change its spots, or that the Government will suddenly start to listen to local government. I support the new clauses. The Bill will lock in for the next 10 years the inequality and unfairness that have become apparent this year. That unfairness will affect councils such as mine in Durham and other northern Labour-controlled councils. It is part of the Secretary of State's plan to lock in that inequality of support that favours his friends in the south-east. I shall give the Committee some examples of how that inequality has already become apparent this year, and how it will become locked in under the new mechanism. As my hon. Friend the Member for Denton and Reddish (Andrew Gwynne) mentioned, the baseline figure in the 2010-11 spending round was the starting point. For example, County Durham's budget for 2011-12 was reduced by £10.9 million. South Tyneside council's budget was reduced by 5.6%—some £33.70 for each resident of that borough. Let us contrast that Wokingham in Berkshire, whose budget was increased by 0.2%, meaning that each of its residents got an extra 30p. I know the Government do not believe in regions, but if we look at the average cuts per capita set by the 2010-11 and 2012-13 spending rounds, we see that per capita spending is down in the north-west by £133, in the north-east by £120, in Yorkshire and Humberside by £107, in London by £97, in the west midlands by £89, in the east midlands by £60 and—this is where it becomes quite clear that the Government are looking after their friends—in the south-west by £44, in the eastern region by £38 and, lo and behold, in the south-east of England by £31. The fact that that is used as the baseline figure locks it in under the formula for the next 10 years. That will increase inequality—we heard in an earlier debate how the Government do not recognise that there is a need in that regard—and it ignores what local government is saying. If the new system will be perfect from day one, what have the Government to fear from reviewing it after three or five years, as local government wants them to? As councils recognise, the inequalities will continue and there would be a loud clamour and pressure on the Government to change the benchmark in three, four or five years' time. If it is locked in for 10 years, they can keep on ignoring that, saying that as the law says they must wait that long it is the earliest time they can review it.