HC Deb 21 March 1990 vol 169 cc1116-7
12. Mr. Winnick

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what are the latest representations he has received over the implementation of the poll tax.

Mr. David Hunt

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I continue to receive representations on a wide range of issues concerning the community charge.

Mr. Winnick

Can the Minister give any explanation why, despite the sustained Government propaganda, the poll tax is so widely hated throughout Britain, including Mid-Staffordshire? I know that the Minister is not yet a member of the Cabinet, but why do not the members of the Cabinet stand up to the Prime Minister in the same way as Tory councillors have done by rightly resigning the Tory whip in many parts of the country in opposition to this notorious measure?

Mr. Hunt

Before the hon. Gentleman gets carried away

about alleged unfairness, does he think it fair that people living in Conservative wards in the Walsall area, regardless of how they vote and regardless of their circumstances, should have only £298 per head spent on them by the council—the Government's assumed community charge for Walsall—while people in Labour areas have £425 per head spent on them under the Labour council's community charge? That is the policy of the hard Left on the council which the ruling Labour group accepted on 5 March. Its policy is to look after its own areas and blow the rest. That is unfair, it is a scandal and the hon. Gentleman should condemn it.

Mr. Donald Thompson

Several tens of thousands of people in my constituency will receive rebates and transitional relief. Is my hon. Friend sure that everybody who is entitled to those reliefs will get them?

Mr. Hunt

We must do everything possible to ensure that they do. Earlier this afternoon the hon. Member for Sheffield, Brightside (Mr. Blunkett) said that people with savings of more than £10,000 would not be entitled to a rebate; that is incorrect. Equally incorrect was his previous statement that people would not be entitled to transitional relief, or would lose their right to transitional relief, where a council was spending higher than the Government's assessment. If we joined in putting across the positive message to 10 million people that they are entitled to rebate, with the additions of yesterday, and to 7.5 million people that they are entitled to transitional relief, we would all be doing much better by the British people.

Mr. Gould

How many representations has the Minister received from Tory local authorites across England and Wales which have combined to produce poll tax bills an average of 31 per cent. above Government projections? That is within a whisker of the national figure of 35 per cent. Can he guarantee that there will be no further protest resignations by Tory councillors to add to the 18 in West Oxfordshire, and the nine who resigned yesterday in Humberside?

Mr. Hunt

I have received a number of protests and representations from Tory areas about the extent to which they must pay into the safety net to protect losing areas, which in the main are Labour areas. The hon. Gentleman should look again at the calculations. If he took the safety net contributions out of the comparison, he would find that the average community charge in Labour areas was considerably above that in Conservative areas.

Mr. Moss

Did my hon. Friend see yesterday's newspaper articles revealing that in Labour-controlled Islington the community charge would be £68 less per head if the council did not dish out money to fringe groups? Does my hon. Friend agree that the best way to get the community charge down is to get rid of Labour councils?

Mr. Hunt

I could not agree more. I hope that, as the pain of accountability hits Labour councils, they will begin to listen to their ratepayers and their future community charge payers. As for the newspaper article, I look forward to The Sun shining on the truth of Labour irresponsibility in the days to come.