Oral Answers to Questions

Diana Johnson Excerpts

Monday 30th January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Stunell]

I should like to remind the hon. Member for Warrington North (Helen Jones) that the proposals in the Bill will give local authorities the capacity to vary the discounts on second homes and empty homes, and that there will be extra income for local authorities in that regard. There will be scope for efficiency and for the authorities to tailor their schemes to their local circumstances. I do not accept the point that she has made.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

10. What assessment he has made of the possible effects on local authorities in deprived areas of his planned localisation of national non-domestic rates.

[Tony Lloyd (Manchester Central) (Lab)]

12. What assessment he has made of the potential effect of his proposals for the localisation of business rates on regional inequality.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Robert Neill)]

Currently, local authorities see no financial benefit from delivering growth. Our proposals will create a strong incentive for all local authorities, wherever they are in the country, to promote growth, local enterprise and jobs. We will ensure that no council will lose out as a result of its business rates base at the outset of the scheme.

[Diana Johnson]

Recent estimates show that, after year 1 of the business rates reforms, Hull council could lose up to £45.5 million, on top of the cuts that it has already targeted. With richer areas such as the City of London and Westminster benefiting at the expense of places such as Hull, how will this policy help to rebalance the economy between the poorest areas in the north and the richest in the south?

[Robert Neill]

The hon. Lady neglects to mention that, throughout the period of the Labour Government, the economic position of the north deteriorated by 2%, while that of Greater London improved by 15%. Moreover, her city of Hull grew in excess of the national average over the past business rate period, as did Manchester, Leeds, Durham and Stockton-on-Tees. All those places will gain under our proposals; they did not do so under the system that her Government operated.