HC Deb 14 July 1976 vol 915 cc635-6
7. Mr. Eyre

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment when he next expects to take the chair at the Consultative Council on Local Government Finance.

Mr. Shore

On Tuesday 27th July, Sir.

Mr. Eyre

Will the Secretary of State tell the House with complete frankness exactly what demands, when he meets the council, he will make upon local authorities to make cuts in their expenditure.

Mr. Shore

I am always tempted to respond to invitations to be completely frank. However, I find it impossible to accede to the hon. Gentleman's request on this occasion. I still have not received the returns for which I asked from the local authorities. As the hon. Gentleman well knows, the deadline is rapidly approaching. I hope to have the returns soon.

Mr. Hardy

Will my right hon. Friend make sure that sewerage charges are considered at the meeting, so that local authorities may be given an assurance that the Government will legislate at an early stage to relieve the anxiety and muddle that was inherited from the previous Administration?

Mr. Shore

That question is somewhat different from the one that is likely to arise at my next meeting with the consultative council. However, I promise closely to examine what my hon. Friend has said.

Mr. Speed

Does the Secretary of State agree that the present situation does not allow him to curb those local authorities, such as Haringey, which are deliberately defying him on public expenditure, and does not allow him to encourage the many local authorities that are trying to economise? Will these matters be discussed at the end of this month? Has the right hon. Gentleman plans for changing the present situation?

Mr. Shore

I think it is dangerous to select particular authorities for attack. I must inform the House that one of the remarkable features of the preliminary returns for 1976–77 that we had in April of this year was the near-uniformity of authority increases throughout the country, including Conservative-controlled authorities just as much as Labour-controlled authorities. It is foolish to try to single out particular authorities.

I agree with the hon. Gentleman at the end of the day one is left with the difficult question of what action to take in the event of overspend. As he knows from the replies that I have given previously, how one reacts to that question may well determine the future relationship of central Government and local government. Therefore, it is a matter to which I shall give the most anxious thought before I make an answer.