Oral Answers to Questions

Stephen Mosley Excerpts

Wednesday 12th January 2011 Commons Chamber

The Secretary of State was asked—

[Stephen Mosley (City of Chester) (Con)]

1. What funding his Department plans to provide for aid to north and south Sudan in 2011-12.

[Sajid Javid (Bromsgrove) (Con)]

5. What funding his Department plans to provide for aid to north and south Sudan in 2011-12.

[The Secretary of State for International Development (Mr Andrew Mitchell)]

Our future support to Sudan will be determined by the bilateral aid review, which is on schedule to report by the end of February. Whatever the outcome of the referendum, there will continue to be significant humanitarian and development needs in both north and south Sudan.

[Stephen Mosley]

According to Transparency International’s measures, Sudan rates as the 176th most corrupt nation in the world. What assistance will the Department be offering to help to establish the rule of law and build democratic structures in Sudan, whatever the results of the current referendum?

[Mr Mitchell]

My hon. Friend is right. Corruption has a devastating impact on the lives of poor people and, indeed, on the confidence of taxpayers in donor countries. It is for that reason that no British taxpayer funds go through the Government of Sudan, but I assure my hon. Friend that we will be working in both north and southern Sudan, whatever the result of the referendum, to increase access to justice and to ensure that in the north, for example, there is much greater transparency in the operation and accountability of local government, and in the south to seek to embed anti-corruption mechanisms from day one, were the referendum to decide that there should be a southern Sudan.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Prime Minister]

You can top all those with a Scottish National party that said it was going to have a referendum on independence and never did. As a predecessor of mine once said, “Frit!”

[Stephen Mosley (City of Chester) (Con)]

Q6. Cheshire West and Chester, my local Conservative-run council, has announced a council tax freeze while protecting essential public services. Many in the country, and indeed some in this Chamber, deny that that is possible. What message would the Prime Minister send to those who deny that it is possible for Government to deliver more for less?

[The Prime Minister]

I absolutely commend what my hon. Friend says. The fact is that of course we are making reductions in local government grant, although when we look at the figures, we see that what local government will get in 2013 is equivalent to what it got in 2007, so we should keep these reductions in perspective. However, I would urge every local council to look at what it can do by sharing services, sharing chief executives and trying to reduce back-office costs, and by taking the extra money that is there for a council tax freeze, so that they can deliver more for less.