§ 35. Mr. Bruceasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the outcome of his meeting on 25 November with the joint delegation of local government associations on the Government's proposals for reform of the rating system.
§ Mr. ChopeThe meeting referred to was with my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister, together with my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for the Environment, for Scotland and for Wales.
There was agreement on all sides that the present rating system is unsatisfactory. The local authority associations asked for time to find a consensus on an alternative to the present system which would meet the Government's objectives of greater fairness and accountability. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister drew attention to the fact that the associations' individual responses to the Green Paper provided no basis for believing that a consensus which met those objectives could be found and pointed out that such a consensus had not emerged over the many years in which this question had been under consideration by successive governments.