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Council Tax

Not yet. I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on his new position and look forward to debating this important policy subject with him. At least the hon. Gentleman’s points, in contrast to those made by the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickles), are based on a policy. At least he has a policy. It is an unworkable policy, and the wrong policy, but it is a policy. He says that the ability to pay should be the criterion for a local tax. We will wait to see whether such a local income tax proposal emerges from the Liberal Democrats’ internal debate. He has made it clear, however, that he believes that local tax should be based on ability to pay. Of course, that ignores all those people in hard-working families, with two or more income earners, who would pay for the difference. I suspect that the ““scrap the tax”” campaign—indeed, I know it for a fact—does not have details of the costs of the extra local income tax. The hon. Gentleman asked about the timing of the Lyons review. For the sake of clarity, the Government intend to publish a White Paper on local government before the summer recess. The timing of the announcements by Sir Michael Lyons is a matter for him, but we expect his next interim report to be published in the first half of the year, and the final report to be published by the end of the year. That is the time towards which we are working. The hon. Gentleman criticised what he described as a centralising Government. I suspect that he is not fully aware of the impact of the new local area agreements, which are bringing about an important change in the relationship between central and local government, and the working relationship that we have on a practical day-to-day level with the Local Government Association as we consider how best to implement the reduction in the performance regime and the extra financial freedoms and flexibilities that have been introduced. I am sure that the hon. Gentleman welcomes those, along with his Liberal Democrat colleagues on the LGA. The hon. Gentleman asked about pensioners. As I said earlier, some 14 per cent. of the total council tax bill is now paid through council tax benefit, and there is additional help for pensioners as well. The hon. Gentleman accused me, or accused the Government, of having a byzantine formula. It is not always entirely fair to cite the words of the hon. Member for Brent, East (Sarah Teather), who preceded the hon. Gentleman in his job, but she criticised me for making the formula simpler when I announced the abolition of the formula spending share.