Opposition Day — Local Government Financing — 29 Jun 2010 at 21:51

The majority of MPs voted to accept an amendment^[1] from the Prime Minister David Cameron which totally replaced a motion on Local Government Finance tabled by the acting leader of the opposition Harriet Harman. The accepted amended motion read:

• This House
• regrets the doubling of council tax under the last government, its cuts to services such as rubbish collections and its legacy of public debt;
• expresses concern that the prospect of paying for £70 billion a year in debt interest represents a total of more than is currently raised from council tax, business rates, stamp duty and inheritance tax combined;
• welcomes the new Government’s immediate support for frontline services by protecting £29 billion of formula grant, removing £1.2 billion of ring-fencing and abolishing red tape such as the Comprehensive Area Assessment;
• backs the support for hard-working families and pensioners through a council tax freeze and the abolition of the previous government’s plans for new bin taxes;
• further welcomes the scrapping of the unfair ports tax which threatened to harm Britain’s whole manufacturing sector;
• supports the reductions in business rates for small firms;
• acknowledges the significant efficiency savings already delivered by local government but believes that there is further scope for savings through joint working, professional procurement practices and radical town hall transparency; and
• asserts the importance of delivering local economic growth to all local communities across the country, assisted by new financial incentives, and of giving new freedoms to councils to allow them to focus their help on local priorities and those most in need.’.

This motion replaced the original opposition motion which was voted down in the previous division.^[2]

• [1] House of Commons Order of Business Tuesday 29 June 2010
• [2] Local Government Finance Division One 29th June 2010 - Description contains full text of defeated opposition motion.

Debate in Parliament | Source |