§ 8. Laura Moffatt (Crawley)What assessment he has made of the effect of the borrowing requirements of local authorities in the next financial year on his plans for fiscal and monetary stability. [91100]
§ The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Mr. Alan Milburn)Local authority spending levels, including borrowing requirements, were taken into account in last year's three-year spending settlement. The resulting levels of public expenditure are reflected in the Government's plans for fiscal and monetary stability.
§ Laura MoffattI thank my right hon. Friend for that answer. Does he agree that good Labour authorities such as Crawley borough council will benefit most from fiscal stability? Such authorities managed to build houses for rent through the lean Tory years. They are still delivering good services and are regularly congratulated by the Audit Commission. Now Crawley borough council will have the stability that it needs to move forward and deliver even better services to the people of Crawley.
§ Mr. MilburnI have no doubt that my hon. Friend is right and I pay tribute to the work of Crawley borough council, which is obviously a well-managed and well-run local authority. We have made additional resources available for local government and for our public services. The comprehensive spending review settlement for local government included a doubling in schools investment, an extra £3.5 billion of capital receipts for housing, £700 million more for local authority transport services, £800 million more for the new deal for communities and £2.3 billion through a reshaped single regeneration budget. All those measures will help to modernise our public services to give people in areas such as my hon. Friend's a better deal. They would all be threatened by the Conservatives' spending plans, because the Conservatives are interested in cutting back public spending whereas we are interested in investing in them.
§ Miss Anne McIntosh (Vale of York)Does the right hon. Gentleman not understand that he has effectively cut services in sectors such as social services, education and police throughout North Yorkshire? Does he not also understand that he has subscribed to the economic convergence criteria, so beloved of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which are set out in the Maastricht treaty, and that the Government should therefore be discouraging public sector borrowing requirements by all local authorities?
§ Mr. MilburnWe have a further split in the Conservative party: there are divisions not only among those on the Front Bench, but between Back Benchers and Front Benchers. The Back Benchers want to spend more money and the Front Benchers want to spend less—less money for vital public services with the Conservatives and more with the Labour Government.