Rate Support Grant

Part of Oral Answers to Questions – in the House of Commons at 9:29 pm on 14 December 1982.

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Photo of Mr Tom King Mr Tom King Minister of State (Department of Environment) (Local Government) 9:29, 14 December 1982

The right hon. Member for Ardwick seems to be under the impression—his right hon. Friend the Member for Widnes made the same mistake—that the penalties and the power to impose penalties are retrospective and that multipliers are malign. The opposite is the case. The power to remove grant existed previously. We sought to improve the basis for the power to give protection to those authorities which sought to observe the guidelines. The multipliers are entirely benign and are used to help authorities. The right hon. Gentleman will find, if he examines the report, that all there which lose grants have a multiplier of one—meaning that there is no change whatsoever. Those which are helped have a multiplier of less than one.

The right hon. Gentleman has tried to attack us by saying that we are a threat to local government. The threat to local government comes from those who are trampling over democracy in this country. It comes from those who try to gain control of a council by smashing a councillor's windows and burning his car to make him stay away from a council meeting. If Labour right hon. and hon. Members did more to comdemn that sort of behaviour in local government, we would have more respect for their other views. I commend the report to the House as a sensible measure to protect those who seek to observe the traditions of local government and not one to protect those who are determined to trample on their ratepayers and electors.