Local Government Financing Debate

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Local Government Financing

Heather Wheeler Excerpts
Tuesday 29th June 2010

(13 years, 10 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Chris Williamson Portrait Chris Williamson
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No, I will not give way. It was local authorities such as Derby county council that resisted the Tories’ wicked attempts to starve the miners back to work during their year-long strike. What Derbyshire county council did was to ensure that the miners’ families had enough food to eat. It was councils—

Chris Williamson Portrait Chris Williamson
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No, I will not give way. It was councils such as Derby and Nottingham city councils that resisted the Tories’ absurd bus deregulation policy by establishing arm’s length public transport companies. The Secretary of State knows that by emasculating local government, he will make it much harder for councils to stand up to this Con-Dem coalition, yet in true Orwellian double-speak he recently told the ConservativeHome blog site that he was

“completely committed to localism and handing power back to people”—

that is, handing power back to people to make cuts.