Council Tax: Government’s Proposed Increase

Peter Gibson Excerpts

Monday 25th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[Peter Gibson (Darlington) (Con) [V]]

Today’s debate is a great opportunity to shine a spotlight on how well Conservative councils are doing in comparison with those controlled by the Labour party. I begin by thanking every member of the team at Darlington Borough Council, including councillors, officers, administrative support and street cleaners. Every one of them has worked hard for the community that I am privileged to represent.

In May 2019, a mere 20 months ago, 28 years of hard Labour in Darlington was brought to an end and the Conservative team, led by Heather Scott, are now delivering for the people in my constituency. Over those 28 years, the Labour-led council raised council taxes year after year while reducing services, choosing to close or put in jeopardy key facilities, and, as has been recently highlighted, failing to recover rents, fees and charges.

The Conservative-led team at Darlington have saved our fantastic 19th century library; commenced restoration of our amazing market hall; restored our market to the market square; reduced car-parking charges, which had previously been the highest in the Tees valley; tackled the scourge of fly-tipping with increased prosecutions; successfully won a bid of £23.3 million from the towns fund; made real progress on resolving our local plan; and saved Springfield park from the road that Labour wanted to bulldoze through it. On top of all that, over the last year, they have overseen the quick and efficient distribution of more than £30 million of support grants to our businesses. This Government have provided billions of extra support to local government to meet the challenges of covid. Darlington, like many local authorities, has received fantastic support, and it gives me a great sense of pride to acknowledge the millions of pounds in extra support for Darlington.

This debate is another attempt by Labour to create headlines and weave a fiction that it is only Labour that cares. The work I have seen by Conservative-led Darlington Borough Council has clearly demonstrated to me that the team there care deeply about the community they serve. They care about the quality of the service that they provide. They care about the money that they have a duty to collect, and they care about the cost to my hard-working constituents.

While Labour plays divisive party politics, this Government are getting on with supporting local authorities, providing £51.2 billion for councils across England—an increase of £2.2 billion on last year—and I thank the Government for making the millions available to Darlington Borough Council. When push comes to shove, this Government have shown themselves to be compassionate in the face of our communities, supportive of our colleagues in local government and robust in challenging the waste and inefficiency of Labour in local government.