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Council Tax Capping (Surrey)

Completely; I think that all Opposition Members would agree with that statement. The cost of designation is a further £1.6 million cut. The cumulative effect, over the same period, is another 55 personnel. Re-billing will cost Surrey police authority £1.2 million, and that translates into a further manpower reduction of 24. Over that time the population increase in Surrey will continue, and so will the threat of crime—particularly cross-border crime—and the anticipated threat of terrorism. The broad figures are that if the Government insist on going ahead with the capping order, and on re-billing, it will cost Surrey police authority £1.2 million to reduce the council tax bill by £1.6 million. On Thursday, I received a response to a parliamentary question, from the Minister of State for Local Government that stated:""Subject to the approval of an order by the House of Commons, the reduction in Band D council tax in Surrey as a result of capping will be £3.18."—[Official Report, 4 June 2009; Vol. 493, c. 678W.]" According to Mole Valley district council, my main billing authority, the overall cost to it of re-billing is £172,000. That translates to an approximate cost per bill of £4.65. That means that in band D it costs £1.47 more than the reduction. Obviously, the balance is worse for the lower bands. It is not until band F that the negative balance is reversed. I hope that the Minister can visualise the huge sigh of relief in every band D household as the annual bill drops, by the Government's order, by £3.18. I can see thousands of taxpayers rushing to buy a bottle of cheap wine, equivalent to £3.18, to celebrate. However, as most of them pay in 10 instalments, the reduction will be 32p a month over 10 months. Perhaps after saving 32p a month for 10 months it will be a pint of beer, a packet of crisps and a packet of peanuts at the pub.