Rate Support Grant Order

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 15 December 1977.

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Photo of Mr Derek Walker-Smith Mr Derek Walker-Smith , Hertfordshire East 12:00, 15 December 1977

If I may say so with great affection, the right hon. Member for Anglesey rather reflected the general conduct of the party to which he belongs—he said he would not give way and then he did. Regretfully, I shall not give way, because I shall reflect the normal pattern of conduct of my party and do what I say I will do.

Althought the concept of a needs element is well intentioned and is based on the reasonable desire to relate the grant received to the services required, it is based on a fluctuating formula resulting over the years in progressively less grant being paid to Hertfordshire and the shire counties in general because of distribution elsewhere. The shift has been largely to the metropolitan areas whose needs, the Government argue, are greater.

There is a considerable degree of inequity attached to the distribution of grant, which arises from a fallacy that the Government have accepted without proper and sufficient scrutiny. That fallacy is that domestic rate payments in the large conurbations, particularly London, are much higher than those in the rest of the country. As a generalisation it might seem prima facie to have some substance—