Local Government (Rate Support and General Grant)

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 20 December 1966.

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Photo of Mr David Renton Mr David Renton , Huntingdonshire 12:00, 20 December 1966

I have a great deal of sympathy for the hon. Member for Cambridge (Mr. Robert Davies) in the views which he has expressed, because the county in which his constituency lies is adversely affected by the Order and as I shall show the county of which I am a representative is even worse affected.

This Rate Support Grant Order confirms lamentably the fears which I expressed during the passage of the Local Government Act, 1966. The change from the present arrangements under the general grant system to the new system which is now proposed will mean a rise in rates in my constituency of between 2s. 3d. and 2s. 9d. in the £. That is a very serious matter. It is especially serious for those constituents who can least afford to pay such increases.

This increase comes at a time when, as the Minister well knows, many of my constituents already complain of the high level of rates under the present system. That applies especially to those ratepayers who live in houses built during the last five years, which includes the people who have come to our county under town development schemes.

During the Report stage of the Act, the Joint Parliamentary Secretary tried to mollify me somewhat by saying that the average rates paid by my constituents were about £40 a year. I was not in a position to challenge that when the hon. Gentleman said it, but inquiries which I have since made have convinced me that this figure was both out of date and misleading. I do not accuse him of intentionally misleading—I know him so well that I know he never would—but I consider that the figure of £40 is out of date because it is clear that people living on our new housing estates are paying £50 to £60 a year in rates, and now they will have to pay this large increase of at least 2s. 3d. in the £ and possibly as much as 2s. 9d. This is a result of Government policy, in spite of the Government's pledge to give early relief to ratepayers. It is a deplorable situation, and the Government must be held responsible for it.

To maintain the standard of essential services to which the hon. Member for Cambridge has referred and which are expected, rightly so, by the Government, by Parliament and by the people—and services which, incidentally, are perhaps lower at the standards being operated than is really desirable—and to provide them for the increasing population which we are getting, the County of Huntingdon and Peterborough will have to spend £1 million more in the coming financial year than in the present financial year. It will get only between £100,000 and £200,000 of that extra £1 million from the grant proposals which are now before us. That will leave an additional amount of expenditure of at least £800,000 to be found by the ratepayers. This is on top of all the extra tax burdens which the Government have imposed. What a Christmas present! What a price to pay for 2¼ years of Socialist Labour Government!

On 14th December, the Minister wrote to me in response to a petition which I had sent to him from ratepayers in my constituency requesting a rate freeze. I recognise the substance of the Minister's arguments against a rate freeze and I understand the reasons he has given for not having one, in the conclusion of his letter, however, after referring to the hope that economies would be made, the Minister said this: I am sure, therefore, that any rise in rates next year will be kept to the bare minimum"— a bare minimum of 2s. 3d. in the £— and, in addition, the provisions of the Local Government Bill will help to keep down the rates for householders; but no one can say that there will not be a rise at all. I shall, of course, continue to bear in mind your comments on the possible effects of town development schemes. I am at least grateful for that hope for the future. No words of mine are necessary, however, to point out the irony of what the Minister wrote to me last week now that we know how the Order will affect the ratepayers in my constituency.

On a number of occasions this year I have warned the Minister and his predecessor and the Parliamentary Secretary of the bad effect which this new rate support system would have on rapidly-expanding communities in largely rural counties. It is now obvious that the pleas which I made fell on deaf ears, or possibly, as an alternative, that the Minister was so anxious to give still further help to cities, which have much higher rateable values than we have, that he does not care about counties like ours, which are doing their best in the national interest to relieve the overcrowding in those cities and to achieve a better distribution of population. In return for our efforts under the town development schemes, however, such counties are now reaping a miserable reward.

I cannot but feel strongly about this. I cannot but feel strongly because of the pleas which I have made and because of the pledges and the pretensions which the Government have put forward from time to time. This is a most regrettable evening in this House.