Local Government Finance Bill

Debate between Andrew Gwynne and David Ward

Wednesday 18th January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Ward]

Let me just finish; I shall not be much longer.

I understand all the measures that are built in, but if the total pot is the same and there is a redistribution, it must be to the disadvantage of the beneficiary authorities that receive most of the formula grant. That is a concern, and although it might not affect those authorities for the first few years, because of the baseline protection, the unknown consequences—

[Andrew Gwynne]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way on that point?

[Mr Ward]

Let me just get through this.

The Bill is not too complex. One of the arguments against having witnesses—it would have been useful to do that—is that we will get the opinions of only those witnesses. The truth is that nobody knows what the outcome of this will be, because it is dependent on the growth in business rates, while the strategy of rebalancing the economy will have implications for different parts of the national economy.