HC Deb 01 December 1993 vol 233 c1031
7. Mr. Cohen

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assessment he has made as to the proportion of local authorities which will (a) raise council tax rates and (b) introduce cuts in local government services following the grant allocation for 1994–95.

Mr. Curry

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State intends to announce his detailed proposals for the local government finance settlement very shortly.

Mr. Cohen

Were not huge public, spending cuts announced in the Budget? Does that mean that there will be big council cuts and big council tax rises during the next three years? Has not the Secretary of State failed to defend his Department and shown himself to be the wimp of the Cabinet, and should not he go?

Mr. Curry

One thing which is always endearing about the hon. Gentleman is his predictability. Council taxes and services depend on the decisions taken by local councils. That depends on their reserves, collection of deficit, tax base and collection rate. What we are hearing now, before anybody knows the facts, is the old Labour litany that this will be a catastrophe. I recall that we heard that about Birmingham last year, yet no catastrophe overtook it, except that it, apparently, spent a lot of money building pyramids.

Mr. Ian Bruce

Will my hon. Friend reflect on the announcement that local authority capping will be kept on this year? As, clearly, many electors up and down the country have been foolish in voting in Liberal Democrat and Labour councils, does my hon. Friend agree that they should get what they voted for and take the blame for having increased the council tax, rather than pass the blame back to the Government for being prudent, unlike those councils?

Mr. Curry

The Government have experience of no controls on local government expendituré and we saw some outrageous increases. Because of that and because of a need to curb public expenditure generally-local government expenditure is a large proportion of the total pool—we think it sensible and prudent to maintain those controls on councils. That does not mean that there is not reasonable discretion for local authorities to determine their priorities. Certainly, there is enough discretion for people to make their choice at the ballot box.