§ Q4. Mr. O'HaraTo ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 12 April.
§ The Prime MinisterI refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply I gave some moments ago.
§ Mr. O'HaraTalking of Westminster, Library statistics tell us that Tory Westminster spends £78 more per capita than Liverpool and yet it manages to do that on a band D council tax which is less than one third of Liverpool's. What possible justification can the Prime Minister give for such flagrant politically motivated gerrymandering of central Government support to Westminster?
§ The Prime MinisterOne of the great differences between Westminster and many of the local authorities that the hon. Gentleman is so fond of is that Westminster collects its rents, for example. If one were to consider—[Interruption.] If the hon. Gentleman—
§ Madam SpeakerOrder.
§ The Prime MinisterIf the hon. Gentleman were to examine the list of local authorities that have a bad rent collection record, he would find Labour local authorities heading that list and running right down it. He would find the same if he considered local authorities in debt, and the same with local authorities who have empty dwellings. The reality is, on any realistic measure of local authority performance, the worst local authorities are socialist local authorities.