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Council Tax Capping (Surrey)

Does my hon. Friend agree that at a time when public spending will be tightly constrained anyway it is incumbent on Governments to ensure that every penny of public money is carefully used, and that the Government have failed abjectly to do that in the case that is being outlined? First, they have failed to set out clearly what was required of Surrey police authority, so that it could take action that would not lead to the present situation; secondly, they have proposed a disproportionate response, which no taxpayer will accept as a sensible way of dealing with a rather small excess, as it will, as my hon. Friend has pointed out, cost nearly the entirety of what will be recovered to undertake re-billing.