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Local Government Finance

I have just said what we would hope to do on council tax. We want to give local communities the ability to set the cap. That should not be done in Whitehall. If local communities decide that a proposed rise is unaffordable, they should be able to stop it. I understand the hon. Gentleman's point, but it shows the difference between our approach, which is to trust local communities and local authorities to get on with running their own lives, and that of the Government, who take a top-down approach the whole time.