§ Q2. Mr. SpearingTo ask the Prime Minister when he next plans to visit the royal docks. [13334]
§ The Prime MinisterI have at present no plans to do so.
§ Mr. SpearingWhen the Prime Minister does visit the royal docks, will he also visit the adjacent Silvertown fire station, whose crews joined their colleagues in Millwall on the Isle of Dogs at the tragic incident on Friday? Does he know that crews at both stations, not to mention the inhabitants of docklands, face the prospect of having the two appliances at each station reduced to one? Does he recall that his name appeared at the top of a successful motion at 10 o'clock last night, calling on local authorities to exercise their freedoms responsibly? If he were charged with denying them those freedoms, because of the policies of the Government towards the public services, what would he say?
§ The Prime MinisterOf course the hon. Gentleman is right to say that we require councils to exercise their freedoms and opportunities responsibly, but there must also be fallback powers for when that does not happen:
we believe there must be fall-back powers to enable central government, in extreme circumstances, to protect council tax and business rate payers".
§ Mr. Spearingindicated dissent
§ The Prime MinisterI was quoting a Labour policy document, so I am sorry to see that the hon. Gentleman disagrees with it.
When looking at the royal docks area, the hon. Gentleman might also like to look at the dramatic improvements there: the 5,000 new homes and the 804 2 million sq ft of commercial property. The whole area has been revolutionised by policies that we have followed but many of his colleagues have opposed.