HC Deb 06 March 1991 vol 187 cc276-7
12. Mr. Wray

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the effectiveness of warrant sales to enforce poll tax payments in Scotland.

Mr. Allan Stewart

I am satisfied that the powers available to local authorities in Scotland for the collection of community charge arrears are adequate for that purpose.

Mr. Wray

Will the Minister explain why he is always misleading the House on percentages? He has referred to a collection rate of 92 per cent. in quite a number of local authorities throughout Scotland. He knows very well that since 31 January Strathclyde regional council, the largest local authority in Scotland, has collected only £247 million —less than 60 per cent. of the £457 million for which it sent out poll tax bills? It has cut the final notices to 38,000 and sent out 754,000 warrants. Surely the Government must recognise that the poll tax will not work. Local authorities are still jackbooting the most vulnerable people in society by operating warrant sales.

Mr. Stewart

The hon. Gentleman is talking nonsense. Local authorities have collected, or expect to collect, 95 per cent. of their budgeted income for last year. Strathclyde has failed to use warrant sales so far and the comptroller of audit has rightly criticised the performance of authorities in failing to implement collection procedures in accordance with the statutory timetable.

Mr. Buchanan-Smith

As has already been mentioned, there is a deep resentment among those who pay and obey the law as regards those who will not pay. Is my hon. Friend aware that the resentment is compounded in areas such as Kincardine and Deeside, where the percentage collection is good, but where next year people will have to pay more than a proportion of what is uncollected in that area because other district councils, such as Aberdeen, have collected a lower proportion of the community charge that is due? Is it fair that community charge payers in Kincardine and Deeside will have to pay more, not just to compensate for those who fail to pay in their own area?

Mr. Stewart

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. A tide of outrage is sweeping Scotland among law-abiding citizens who have to pay the SNP surcharge. I can perhaps reassure my right hon. Friend about the position in Grampian. He may have seen an article recently in The Scotsman headed, Labour rift as warrant sales approved". In the article it was announced that Grampian region had decided to go ahead with eight warrant sales for non-payment. The article stated that the Labour leader, Councillor Jurgen Thomaneck, said: It would be asking too much of us to condone illegal acts by people who evade the poll tax in a way that is to the detriment of other poll tax payers. I am sure that my right hon. Friend would agree with that. I hope that those sentiments will get a ringing endorsement from the Opposition Front Bench.

Mr. Wilson

In the last months of the poll tax, will the Minister finally seek to bring some common sense to at least some parts of its operation? Will he relieve local authorities of the need to pursue this blunderbuss approach in the legislation which means that the poorest people in the land, who are in arrears on a proportion of the poll tax of up to 20 per cent., have to be pursued in exactly the same way as the wealthiest people in the community who default voluntarily, with which I have no truck whatever? Will the Minister bring to the attention of his right hon. Friend the Secretary of State the possibility of getting rid of the 20 per cent. minimum payment? Does he agree that if the poorest people in Scottish society, who are being hounded for 20 per cent. of the poll tax, were taken out of the equation much of the administrative shambles, chaos and misery that surround the poll tax would disappear with them?

Mr. Stewart

There will be no amnesty. The community charge benefit is widely available to assist those on low incomes. Some of the people to whom the hon. Gentleman refers may have built up a large level of debt. In many cases, the fault lies not with the Opposition Front Bench but with many of the hon. Members behind him and with the Scottish National party.

Mr. Oppenheim

Surely the effectiveness of warrant sales must be called into question, bearing in mind the large number of Scottish Members of Parliament who still have not paid their poll tax. What does my hon. Friend the Minister think of a party which aspires to law-making but condones so much law-breaking in its own ranks?

Mr. Stewart

I am not sure whether my hon. Friend was referring to the Labour party or to the Scottish National party. Almost certainly, he was referring to both. Of course, he is absolutely right. Scottish local authorities have failed so far to use warrant sales and they have been consistently criticised for the delay. In some authorities, such as Borders and Fife, payment levels are extremely high. If Borders and Fife can do it, so can Lothian and Strathclyde.