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Opposition day on Monday, 4 July 2005, in the House of Commons, led by Caroline Spelman. The answering member was David Miliband.

Local Taxation

Local taxation. Fourth opposition day debate (part 1). Motion negatived on division (160 to 340). Amendment agreed on division (287 to 183).

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
436 c22-88, (corrigendum) 437 c136;436 c22-88 
Session
2005-06
Department
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Proceeding contributions
David Howarth | 436 c75 (Link to this contribution) It is entirely unclear whether that is true. There are also vast disparities in property values. The...
Speaker | 436 c39-40;436 c39 (Link to this contribution) Order. We had best stop here. No hon. Member would be misleading in the House and certainly not the ...
Show all contributions (227)
Speaker | 436 c43 (Link to this contribution) Order. I should remind the House that a 10-minute limit has been placed by Mr. Speaker on Back-Bench...
Speaker | 436 c62 (Link to this contribution) Order. Perhaps the hon. Lady would remember what I said to the hon. Member for Lancaster and Wyre (M...
Jo Swinson | 436 c62-3 (Link to this contribution) I apologise, Mr. Deputy Speaker. If the hon. Gentleman checks the Library figures for Richmond, whi...
David Leslie Taylor | 436 c62 (Link to this contribution) I intend to go directly to the Commons Library to check the hon. Lady’s two assertions that she repr...
Jo Swinson | 436 c62 (Link to this contribution) That demonstrates my point. If you check the figures, you will find that in Richmond, which many peo...
Stephen Crabb | 436 c64-5 (Link to this contribution) I am pleased to participate in this important debate on local taxation, which is probably one of the...
Anne Milton | 436 c63-4 (Link to this contribution) I could, but the fact remains that the local income tax would still be collected by central Governme...
Anne Milton | 436 c63 (Link to this contribution) It has been said that council tax became unpopular only when it started to increase. That is probabl...
Stephen Crabb | 436 c65 (Link to this contribution) No, I do not necessarily accept that. Taxation must be transparent and fair. There must certainly be...
Adam Price | 436 c65 (Link to this contribution) It is true in Wales as well as in England that local government is responsible for education, social...
Lord McLoughlin | 436 c65 (Link to this contribution) Will revaluation not be used by the Government to say that council tax as a percentage has not gone ...
Stephen Crabb | 436 c65-6 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend is right. Welsh Assembly Ministers tried their best to say that the average cou...
Lord Pickles | 436 c66 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend confirm that, besides the increase for individual households, the amount collect...
Stephen Crabb | 436 c66-7 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend has made an excellent point. It is worth bearing it in mind that, behind the numbers,...
David Jones | 436 c67 (Link to this contribution) As the second Welsh Conservative Member to contribute to our debate, may I say that it is a great sh...
Phil Woolas | 436 c68-9 (Link to this contribution) I think the hon. Gentleman will find that my right hon. Friend the Member for Greenwich and Woolwich...
David Howarth | 436 c68 (Link to this contribution) I shall deal with some of the points raised in the debate, starting with the assumption by the hon...
Phil Woolas | 436 c69 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for that clarification, for which I have waited about 18 years in various debates with...
David Howarth | 436 c69 (Link to this contribution) Clearly, local income tax would be assessed on the place of residence. I am not aware of any policy ...
David Howarth | 436 c69 (Link to this contribution) Indeed. That is correct in all places that have local income tax. As I tried to make clear in an int...
Ben Wallace | 436 c69 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
David Howarth | 436 c69-70 (Link to this contribution) No, I am sorry. I do not have much time left. I might give way at the end, if I have some time. Men...
Phil Woolas | 436 c69 (Link to this contribution) I am asking these questions in a spirit of genuine inquiry. On the point made by the hon. Member for...
David Howarth | 436 c69 (Link to this contribution) That has not been the experience in the rest of the world. One hon. Member raised a point about stu...
David Howarth | 436 c69 (Link to this contribution) I give way for the last time, as this is technically a Back-Bench speech.
Speaker | 436 c71 (Link to this contribution) Order. We are discussing not free personal care, but local council tax.
Ben Wallace | 436 c70-1 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for giving me the chance to speak. I thought that it was important ...
David Howarth | 436 c70 (Link to this contribution) As I said, second homes would fall under the business rate regime and taxpayers would have to opt fo...
Lord Pickles | 436 c70 (Link to this contribution) If a property is occupied all year round, every day of the year, would it fall into that category if...
Jeremy Hunt | 436 c73-4 (Link to this contribution) I am most grateful to you, Madam Deputy Speaker, as I have spoken only three times in this House and...
Lord Benyon | 436 c74 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend join me in congratulating the Liberal Democrats on their wonderful website, ““Ax...
Jeremy Hunt | 436 c74 (Link to this contribution) I am not accustomed to congratulating Liberal Democrats on their campaigning techniques, but in that...
Anne Main | 436 c74 (Link to this contribution) Unfortunately, we have exactly the same problem in St. Albans. Even a starter home costs about £200,...
Ben Wallace | 436 c71-2 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am trying to point out the difference between rhetoric and re...
David Howarth | 436 c72 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for allowing me to intervene when I did not allow him to interve...
Ben Wallace | 436 c72-3 (Link to this contribution) It is interesting to consider what we would be saying to the boundary committee. In future, it would...
Jeremy Hunt | 436 c74-5 (Link to this contribution) None the less, I am grateful to my hon. Friend for her valid point. The local income tax might reliv...
Speaker | 436 c74 (Link to this contribution) Order. I am afraid that the hon. Lady must keep interventions brief.
Phil Woolas | 436 c80 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry, but I shall not be able to do justice to the many intelligent points that have been made...
Phil Woolas | 436 c80-1 (Link to this contribution) It is all very well the hon. Lady shaking her head, but if the tax base were to be based on income r...
Phil Woolas | 436 c79-80 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has had his chance to put his point of view. My right hon. Friend the Minister of...
Lord Pickles | 436 c77-8 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman had been here longer, he would have heard more of the arguments, but I shall d...
Roger Williams | 436 c77 (Link to this contribution) I have been here for rather longer than the winding-up speeches. The hon. Gentleman speaks of the ni...
Phil Woolas | 436 c78 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for calling me to speak in this debate. I saw its title, but I shou...
Lord Pickles | 436 c75-7 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for South-West Surrey (Mr. Hunt), who made an e...
Jeremy Hunt | 436 c75 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman and I have to accept that neither of us knows the answer to that. The divergence ...
Lord Pickles | 436 c77 (Link to this contribution) Of course. It is nice to see the hon. Gentleman.
Roger Williams | 436 c77 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Lord Pickles | 436 c38 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady is wrong on two material facts. First, there is not a question of convergence. However...
Baroness Teather | 436 c38 (Link to this contribution) As the Minister of Communities and Local Government suggested, it is a great pleasure in my debut on...
Lord Pickles | 436 c39 (Link to this contribution) Yes, it is; the relationship is exactly what it was when the council tax was introduced 10 years ago...
David Miliband | 436 c37-8 (Link to this contribution) The watching millions can draw their own conclusions from that. To follow up the work of the balanc...
David Miliband | 436 c38 (Link to this contribution) I have been extremely generous in giving way, and I hope that the hon. Gentleman will now allow me t...
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown | 436 c38 (Link to this contribution) Will the Minister give way on that point?
John Pugh | 436 c39 (Link to this contribution) I have a Hansard quote from the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickles), who just said tha...
Baroness Teather | 436 c39 (Link to this contribution) I understood that the Conservative party was advocating five-yearly rather than 10-yearly revaluatio...
Baroness Teather | 436 c39 (Link to this contribution) The Conservatives really do not know what they are doing, do they?
David Miliband | 436 c37 (Link to this contribution) I will not have a big go at the hon. Gentleman but let him speak for himself. The hon. Member for Br...
David Miliband | 436 c36-7 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry, but this £1 billion cost for inspection is completely erroneous. As I said to the hon. L...
David Miliband | 436 c36 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry, but any of us can promise any amount of money if we do not have to say where it will be ...
Anne Main | 436 c36 (Link to this contribution) The Minister compared the Government’s £200 contribution with the £500 that the Conservatives would ...
Caroline Spelman | 436 c37 (Link to this contribution) All I said from a sedentary position was that I had already covered that point in response to the in...
David Miliband | 436 c37 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry but I have the full quote here. If the hon. Gentleman will contain himself, he will hear ...
Lord Pickles | 436 c37 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend did not say that.
Caroline Spelman | 436 c24 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend will not be surprised to learn that I can provide the answer to that question in glor...
Andrew Turner | 436 c24 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend mentioned her visit to Cheadle this morning. Would it be in order for me to ask her w...
Caroline Spelman | 436 c23-4 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman may want to discuss extensively the history of my party’s introduction of the cou...
Lord Whitehead | 436 c23 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Lady accept that, when the previous Conservative Government introduced the council tax...
Caroline Spelman | 436 c23 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the right hon. Gentleman’s colleagues are sorry to lose him, with his expertise and k...
Nick Raynsford | 436 c23 (Link to this contribution) Is it Conservative party policy that there should be no revaluation? If so, how is leaving the level...
Caroline Spelman | 436 c24 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady will have her chance to speak. At the moment, I am addressing my remarks to the Govern...
David TC Davies | 436 c25 (Link to this contribution) Has my hon. Friend noticed that there is not one single Labour Member of Parliament in the Chamber t...
Speaker | 436 c22 (Link to this contribution) I inform the House that I have selected the amendment in the name of the Prime Minister.
Caroline Spelman | 436 c22 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That this House notes with concern the increasing burden of local taxation; awaits t...
Mark Prisk | 436 c23 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry to interrupt my hon. Friend’s flow, but is she aware of the deep anger not only in my con...
Caroline Spelman | 436 c23 (Link to this contribution) I share that concern and feel it deeply. We all read the headlines about people being threatened wit...
Caroline Spelman | 436 c26 (Link to this contribution) No, the hon. Lady has an opportunity to reply, and I have a series of questions that I want to ask a...
Daniel Kawczynski | 436 c27 (Link to this contribution) The biggest pressure on councils such as Shrewsbury is caused by the Labour Government’s targets for...
Caroline Spelman | 436 c26-7 (Link to this contribution) I would like to make a little progress. The Liberal Democrats voted in favour of revaluation and re...
Lord Whitehead | 436 c28 (Link to this contribution) : Perhaps the hon. Lady could explain how the Conservative proposals in the motion to give pensioner...
Caroline Spelman | 436 c27-8 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure that the hon. Gentleman’s intervention has really helped his party. He does not deny t...
Simon Hughes | 436 c27 (Link to this contribution) So that the hon. Lady does not keep repeating things that are not true, I should tell her that every...
Caroline Spelman | 436 c27 (Link to this contribution) That is a very good point, which illustrates what I was trying to say. The Government, in a sense, s...
Caroline Spelman | 436 c28 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman misses the point, in terms of what his Government have done to pensioners by abus...
Caroline Spelman | 436 c25 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend the Member for Monmouth (David T.C. Davies) has excellent eyesight, Mr. Speaker, and ...
Graham Allen | 436 c25 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. In order to be courteous to the hon. Gentleman, would it be in ord...
Caroline Spelman | 436 c25-6 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman fundamentally misunderstood our policy at the last election, and I cannot believe...
Caroline Spelman | 436 c26 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right to point to a pattern that we have seen before. After the general election o...
Brian Binley | 436 c26 (Link to this contribution) Is my hon. Friend aware that the rumour in local government circles, emanating from the Local Govern...
Baroness Teather | 436 c26 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady has made several elusive suggestions that she might reform council tax, but has not pr...
Caroline Spelman | 436 c26 (Link to this contribution) I am about to come on to the Liberal Democrats. A great deal can be said on the subject, but I was h...
David Miliband | 436 c33 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a good point. The amount is certainly about 25 per cent. at present. Of course,...
Brian Jenkins | 436 c33 (Link to this contribution) Can the Minister confirm, off the top of his head, that, over the past 20 years, the amount of spend...
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown | 436 c32-3 (Link to this contribution) The Minister will know better than most that, although he says that local authorities have control o...
David Miliband | 436 c33 (Link to this contribution) We can have a debate about national insurance every day of the week as far as I am concerned, but th...
Lord Pickles | 436 c32 (Link to this contribution) By ring-fencing education and the like, the growth in other services that do not have that benefit t...
David Miliband | 436 c32 (Link to this contribution) The Government make no apology for saying that the money we raise for education—the top priority of ...
Ed Davey | 436 c32 (Link to this contribution) Will the Minister confirm that the passporting of school budgets and ring-fencing of other budgets h...
David Miliband | 436 c32 (Link to this contribution) That is often said, but the hon. Gentleman will know as well as I do that many local authorities spe...
Caroline Spelman | 436 c29 (Link to this contribution) The underlying point is that our proposals would help more than 5 million pensioners. Moreover, it i...
Caroline Spelman | 436 c29-30 (Link to this contribution) All this is taking place against a backdrop of uncertainty as we await the outcome of the Lyons revi...
Caroline Spelman | 436 c30 (Link to this contribution) That is critical. We need to abort the process of subordinating local government and reinvigorate lo...
Alison Seabeck | 436 c29 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady says that she is opposed to rebanding, to revaluation, to local income tax and to the ...
Caroline Spelman | 436 c29 (Link to this contribution) Before making an intervention that is an attack on my party’s policy, the hon. Lady should acquaint ...
Linda Gilroy | 436 c29 (Link to this contribution) Earlier, the hon. Lady kindly offered to give away some glasses. Perhaps she might repeat that offer...
John Butterfill | 436 c28 (Link to this contribution) Before we leave the question of revaluation, which was supported so avidly by the Liberal Democrats,...
Caroline Spelman | 436 c28-9 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. He accurately points out that such a measure is redist...
Nick Hurd | 436 c36 (Link to this contribution) I should like to bring the Minister back to the take-up of council tax benefits, which he skirted ov...
David Miliband | 436 c36 (Link to this contribution) Tempted as I am to make Budget statements in advance of the Chancellor, it would probably be audacio...
David Miliband | 436 c36 (Link to this contribution) I agree that take-up is an issue. I will write to the hon. Gentleman, though, because he is somewhat...
David Miliband | 436 c35 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes a good point. Of course, there is a big difference between local taxes and ...
Simon Hughes | 436 c35 (Link to this contribution) Ahead of the Lyons announcement, as a matter of philosophy, does the hon. Gentleman personally as a ...
David Miliband | 436 c35 (Link to this contribution) The balance of funding review concluded that there was a strong case for more money to be raised loc...
David Miliband | 436 c34 (Link to this contribution) I very much look forward to taking that matter forward. We have quotes from the right hon. Member fo...
Graham Allen | 436 c34 (Link to this contribution) That is all good knockabout political stuff, but where the hon. Member for Meriden (Mrs. Spelman) ...
Vincent Cable | 436 c34 (Link to this contribution) Will the Minister return to a point on which there is more consensus: the Gershon savings of £5.6 bi...
David Miliband | 436 c34 (Link to this contribution) I am pleased to say that I can. Our analysis of plans submitted by authorities suggests that council...
John Butterfill | 436 c34-5 (Link to this contribution) In response to the intervention about local government being in thrall nowhere else in western Europ...
David TC Davies | 436 c33 (Link to this contribution) Is the Minister confirming that there is an irrefutable link between the amount of money that local ...
David Miliband | 436 c33-4 (Link to this contribution) There is an irrefutable link between the amount of money that local authorities raise from a range o...
Caroline Spelman | 436 c34 (Link to this contribution) To set the record straight, the then shadow Chancellor, before the election, following the savings i...
Baroness Teather | 436 c40 (Link to this contribution) We did not. End of story. We have argued for the local income tax because it is fair—
Graham Stuart | 436 c40 (Link to this contribution) In light of the Liberal Democrats’ opposition to the council tax, will the hon. Lady explain why mem...
Baroness Teather | 436 c40 (Link to this contribution) Okay, I am no clearer, I am afraid. However, at least the Tories are honest enough to acknowledge th...
Caroline Spelman | 436 c40;436 c39 (Link to this contribution) Of course I withdraw any remarks that might cause offence. A proper reading of Hansard tomorrow will...
Baroness Teather | 436 c39 (Link to this contribution) I absolutely meant that the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickles) was inadvertently misl...
Caroline Spelman | 436 c39 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the opportunity to reply to the hon. Lady’s point, which is definitely misleading ...
Andrew Turner | 436 c39 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Am I correct in thinking that the hon. Member for Brent, East (Sar...
Speaker | 436 c39 (Link to this contribution) I think that the hon. Member for Brent, East (Sarah Teather) meant to say ““inadvertently misleading...
Lord Beamish | 436 c40-1;436 c40 (Link to this contribution) I am listening to what the hon. Lady says about local income tax. Does she stand by what she said in...
Adrian Sanders | 436 c41 (Link to this contribution) One fundamental problem with any system of local government that is dependent on a central Governmen...
Baroness Teather | 436 c41 (Link to this contribution) A student bursary is not taxable.
Baroness Teather | 436 c40 (Link to this contribution) A revaluation is irrelevant if we have a local income tax. If we scrap the council tax, there is no ...
Baroness Teather | 436 c40 (Link to this contribution) In a minute. We have argued for a local income tax because it is fair and simple and has been prove...
John Butterfill | 436 c47 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady must let me say a couple of sentences before she tries to intervene, but I will give w...
Alison Seabeck | 436 c47 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
John Butterfill | 436 c46-7 (Link to this contribution) Since I have been in this House, we have moved from the rating system, through the poll tax, and on ...
John Butterfill | 436 c47 (Link to this contribution) So the Liberal Democrats now have a policy whereby people who have second homes would pay business r...
Baroness Teather | 436 c47 (Link to this contribution) Under our proposed system, they would pay business rates on the properties if they were not resident...
John Butterfill | 436 c47 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady is wrong. People who have holiday homes do not pay business rates.
Baroness Teather | 436 c47 (Link to this contribution) Such people would pay business rates on their properties if nobody lived there.
Graham Allen | 436 c44-5 (Link to this contribution) : I hope that my hon. Friend will be wary of falling into the trap of not recognising that local tax...
Lord Whitehead | 436 c44 (Link to this contribution) I apologise, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I shall attempt to be more accurate in my remarks. On the extent t...
Speaker | 436 c45 (Link to this contribution) Order. The hon. Member for Nottingham, North (Mr. Allen) knows that he must not make a speech on an ...
Caroline Spelman | 436 c45 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman reads Hansard tomorrow he will see that I stated clearly for the record that o...
Lord Whitehead | 436 c45 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a valid point. If it is accepted that more power should be returned to a local ...
Lord Whitehead | 436 c45-6 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady is right that the shadow Chancellor clarified the position shortly before the election...
Speaker | 436 c44 (Link to this contribution) Order. I remind the hon. Gentleman, who has been here for a few years, that he should not use ““you”...
Lord Whitehead | 436 c46 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady is saying, I think, that over a period of time the local government settlement becomes...
Lord Whitehead | 436 c43-4 (Link to this contribution) Words almost fail me to describe the contribution from the Conservative Front-Bench spokesman to the...
Baroness Teather | 436 c42-3 (Link to this contribution) We need to raise a much greater proportion locally. About 30 per cent. of local authority income is ...
Chris Bryant | 436 c42 (Link to this contribution) It is fascinating to watch the spat between the Liberal Democrat and Conservative Front Benchers. Th...
Baroness Teather | 436 c42 (Link to this contribution) The figures in the Conservative leaflets in Cheadle claim that people would supposedly pay much more...
Caroline Spelman | 436 c42 (Link to this contribution) The Liberal Democrats’ own ““Axe the Tax”” website gave a figure between £30,000 and £40,000. The ho...
Baroness Teather | 436 c42 (Link to this contribution) I am happy to give way to the hon. Member for Meriden so that she can explain how she arrived at tho...
Anne Main | 436 c44 (Link to this contribution) : Is the hon. Gentleman content that 50 per cent. of the increase in pension since 1997 is swallowed...
Lord Whitehead | 436 c44 (Link to this contribution) No, certainly not. If the hon. Lady would care to listen, my point is that you cannot claim that you...
Baroness Teather | 436 c41 (Link to this contribution) I need to make progress. I have been talking for some time—
Nick Raynsford | 436 c41-2;436 c41 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Lady tell the House whether her party’s policy for a local income tax remains based on...
Baroness Teather | 436 c41 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way to the right hon. Gentleman shortly. Council tax is fundamentally unfair because t...
Baroness Teather | 436 c41 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes an excellent point, and the situation would be made worse under revaluation.
Baroness Teather | 436 c41 (Link to this contribution) That relates to a vote on Third Reading. We did not vote for revaluation. [Interruption.] Those are ...
Lord Pickles | 436 c41 (Link to this contribution) I give the hon. Lady the opportunity to withdraw her remarks. Is Hansard in 2003 at columns 126, 976...
Baroness Teather | 436 c42 (Link to this contribution) The money would be collected using the same process that we use to collect income tax at the moment....
Lord Beamish | 436 c58 (Link to this contribution) Is not one of the complexities of that crazy local income tax scheme that the tax could vary in diff...
Alison Seabeck | 436 c58 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right. I close by saying to my hon. Friend the Minister for Local Government that...
David Howarth | 436 c60 (Link to this contribution) The Revenue would change the address at the end of the year.
Philip Dunne | 436 c60 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman says that the Inland Revenue could be notified once a year, but it would surely h...
Speaker | 436 c58 (Link to this contribution) Order. Hon. Members who are desirous of catching the eye of the Speaker should signify that by risin...
Philip Dunne | 436 c58-60 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I had not appreciated that the hon. Member for Plymouth, Devonport ...
Speaker | 436 c61 (Link to this contribution) Order. Before the hon. Member for East Dunbartonshire (Jo Swinson) replies, I remind the hon. Member...
Jo Swinson | 436 c61-2 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the hon. Member for Lancaster and Wyre (Mr. Wallace) to the House. He will recall that the...
Jo Swinson | 436 c60-1 (Link to this contribution) I welcome this debate on a subject of great concern to many of my constituents in East Dunbartonshir...
Ben Wallace | 436 c61 (Link to this contribution) When I was a Member of the Scottish Parliament, I distinctly remember that the Lib Dems supported a ...
Andrew Turner | 436 c54 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is, of course, absolutely right that they would have to pay more: the lower the a...
David Howarth | 436 c54 (Link to this contribution) It is no part of the Liberal Democrat proposals that we remove all equalisation between local author...
Andrew Turner | 436 c54-5 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for making that clear. We are drawing out some interesting infor...
Lord Beamish | 436 c55 (Link to this contribution) Have we not had an announcement today of a new tourist tax that would affect the Isle of Wight and m...
Andrew Turner | 436 c55 (Link to this contribution) Indeed, but I am not sure of the consequences. It would take more research than I could expect the L...
Lord Pickles | 436 c56 (Link to this contribution) Is my hon. Friend aware that that is not the only tourist tax that the Liberal Democrats suggest? Th...
Andrew Turner | 436 c56-7 (Link to this contribution) I assume that the Liberal Democrats want everyone who comes to the Isle of Wight to walk there on wa...
Alison Seabeck | 436 c57 (Link to this contribution) I have listened to the debate with great interest but with sadness, because it is depressing that af...
Ed Davey | 436 c57 (Link to this contribution) Has the hon. Lady read the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy report, in 2004, on...
Alison Seabeck | 436 c57-8 (Link to this contribution) I have read elements of the report and I do not agree with the hon. Gentleman’s assessment or indeed...
Speaker | 436 c51 (Link to this contribution) Order. That intervention was far too long.
Nick Raynsford | 436 c51-2 (Link to this contribution) The truth of the matter is that both Opposition parties are up a gum tree. One argues against revalu...
Nick Raynsford | 436 c51 (Link to this contribution) It is completely non-tenable, for reasons that I shall outline, to have a values system based on his...
Ed Davey | 436 c51 (Link to this contribution) It is nice to see the right hon. Gentleman on the Back Benches, although we enjoyed his performances...
Andrew Turner | 436 c53-4 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Greenwich and Woolwich (Mr. Raynsford), to whom...
Lord Beamish | 436 c54 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that those of his constituents and mine who are on average earnings wo...
Nick Raynsford | 436 c52-3 (Link to this contribution) No. My time is limited, and I have already given way to a member of the hon. Gentleman’s party. The...
Lord Pickles | 436 c52 (Link to this contribution) Speaking of the politically unprincipled, one of the things that have consoled us since the right ho...
Nick Raynsford | 436 c52 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted that the hon. Gentleman is reading my articles in the ““Municipal Journal”” and other...
John Butterfill | 436 c47-8 (Link to this contribution) Well, at least we have one little extra gem to add to our understanding of Liberal Democrat proposal...
David Howarth | 436 c48 (Link to this contribution) The fallacy in the hon. Gentleman’s point is the assumption that the local authority would need to k...
John Butterfill | 436 c50 (Link to this contribution) I fear that the right hon. Gentleman does me an injustice. I was opposed to the poll tax when it was...
Nick Raynsford | 436 c50 (Link to this contribution) I hear what the hon. Gentleman says, and I will not pursue that, as there are points of principle th...
Caroline Spelman | 436 c50-1 (Link to this contribution) I explained that according to the Halifax building society there is a clear convergence. Given the a...
John Butterfill | 436 c48-9 (Link to this contribution) There we are. We revert to the point that the tax would be nationally based and subsequently redistr...
Ed Davey | 436 c49 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the hon. Gentleman has studied the way in which local income tax works in Sweden, Fin...
John Butterfill | 436 c49 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for raising that point; I was just coming to it myself. I have r...
Nick Raynsford | 436 c49-50 (Link to this contribution) I followed with interest the speech of the hon. Member for Bournemouth, West (Sir John Butterfill), ...
David Miliband | 436 c30-2 (Link to this contribution) The Minister of Communities and Local Government (Mr. David Miliband): I beg to move, To leave out f...
Caroline Spelman | 436 c36 (Link to this contribution) I thank the Minister for allowing me to reply to that point. The Institute for Fiscal Studies confir...
Michael Jabez Foster | 436 c25 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady is quite right: the system is tough on those on fixed incomes. But how would that be h...
David Miliband | 436 c34 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes an important point and, as he will know, the balance of funding review addresse...
David TC Davies | 436 c40 (Link to this contribution) : Surely the hon. Lady is aware that the Liberal Democrats in Wales most certainly voted not only fo...
Lord Whitehead | 436 c46 (Link to this contribution) I had only 10 minutes, and I am afraid that I cannot give way any more. In other words, a lot more ...
David Miliband | 436 c35-6 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman just let me make this point? The Government’s help of a £200 contribution t...
Baroness Teather | 436 c46 (Link to this contribution) It is a two-stage solution, as it is not possible to do everything in one go. We need to get the sys...
David Howarth | 436 c52 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Notes
Daily part printing error - Amendment to division list at 436 c86 - after "Williams, rh Mr. Alan" insert "Williams, Betty"
Subjects
Council tax Discounts Pensioners Local government finance Reform Valuation Local Government Finance Funding Changes Independent Inquiry Local income tax
Link
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