Oral Answers to Questions — Scotland – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 13 July 1983.
Mr Willie Hamilton
, Central Fife
12:00,
13 July 1983
asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what reply he has made to the representations made to him by the Kirkcaldy district council concerning the action he intends to take against the council for its allegedly excessive and unreasonable expenditure proposed for 1983–84.
Michael Ancram
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scottish Office)
Kirkcaldy district council was informed on 29 June that, having given careful consideration to its representations, my right hon. Friend remained of the view that the council's planned expenditure for 1983–84 was excessive and unreasonable, but that the rate reduction originally proposed should be limited to 2p. As the council is not willing to make a voluntary rate reduction of this amount, my right hon. Friend is therefore seeking approval to a rate reduction of 2p in the report laid before the House on 7 July.
Mr Willie Hamilton
, Central Fife
Why is this moderate and responsible authority being singled out for this cavalier treatment by the Government? Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the current rate of the Kirkcaldy district council of 29p is considerably less than the 35p average rate across Scotland for all district councils? Is it not the case that the council is being penalised, as many think in Kirkcaldy, because one of the few Tory councillors is a paid hack of a Minister on the Treasury Bench?
Michael Ancram
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scottish Office)
The hon. Gentleman knows that there is no basis for that strange allegation. Even with the changes that have been made in the budget following the representations made to myself at my meeting with the Kirkcaldy district council, it is still the view of my right hon. Friend that its expenditure is excessive and unreasonable. The council has accepted that there could be savings that could be returned to the ratepayers.
Mr Harry Gourlay
, Kirkcaldy
Is the Minister aware that the average rate demand over the past five years in Kirkcaldy has been considerably less than the demands of the six comparable authorities that have been chosen by the Secretary of State for Scotland for comparison with Kirkcaldy? How can he regard the rate in Kirkcaldy as excessive and unreasonable? Will he become more objective, rather than subjective, in analysing the rate in Kirkcaldy and for once throw aside his Hitlerian mantle?
Michael Ancram
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scottish Office)
The hon. Gentleman knows that expenditure has been excessive and unreasonable and that there are a number of criteria on which that judgment is based, one of which is the rate level. The hon. Gentleman will have a chance to develop his argument in further detail when the order is debated. If he chooses to do so, I shall answer him in further detail.
Mr Barry Henderson
, North East Fife
Would my hon. Friend imagine from the remarks of Opposition Members that the rate of the Kirkcaldy district council has more than doubled since the Labour party took full control? Is he aware that there has been an increase of 15½p since 1980, while during the same period the rate of the North-East Fife district council has increased by only 2½p?
Michael Ancram
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scottish Office)
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that valid comparison. Opposition Members are not best known for their defence of ratepayers, and ratepayers in Scotland have been hard pressed for a long time.
Donald Dewar
, Glasgow Garscadden
Does the Minister accept that the principal cause of the increase in rates in Scotland in recent years has been the cut in the rate support grant? Does he accept that many councils have a higher rate of expenditure per head than Kirkcaldy, and in excess of the allegedly indicative guidelines? Does that not demonstrate that the Government have acted in an obscure and prejudiced fashion, and extremely unfairly? Will he explain in some detail, either during the debate on the order or by publication before the debate, how the rate reduction should be limited to 2p? The letter of 29 June gives no reason and merely announces the outcome. What was the reduction in the unfair and excessive expenditure, which he presumably accepted should be made, to justify the decrease?
Michael Ancram
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scottish Office)
The hon. Gentleman will have to await the debate if he wishes specific answers to those questions. He knows that this is not the proper occasion to debate the details of the order. He knows also that expenditure in excess of the guidelines is only one part of the criteria upon which my right hon. Friend makes his assessment.
Mr Bernard Weatherill
, Croydon North East
Order. I think that the House knows that I have a great interest in Scottish questions.
Mr George Foulkes
, Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley
So have many others.
Mr Bernard Weatherill
, Croydon North East
We are running slightly behind time and I ask for shorter supplementary questions and even shorter answers from the Dispatch Box.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
The political party system in the English-speaking world evolved in the 17th century, during the fight over the ascension of James the Second to the Throne. James was a Catholic and a Stuart. Those who argued for Parliamentary supremacy were called Whigs, after a Scottish word whiggamore, meaning "horse-driver," applied to Protestant rebels. It was meant as an insult.
They were opposed by Tories, from the Irish word toraidhe (literally, "pursuer," but commonly applied to highwaymen and cow thieves). It was used — obviously derisively — to refer to those who supported the Crown.
By the mid 1700s, the words Tory and Whig were commonly used to describe two political groupings. Tories supported the Church of England, the Crown, and the country gentry, while Whigs supported the rights of religious dissent and the rising industrial bourgeoisie. In the 19th century, Whigs became Liberals; Tories became Conservatives.
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The Opposition are the political parties in the House of Commons other than the largest or Government party. They are called the Opposition because they sit on the benches opposite the Government in the House of Commons Chamber. The largest of the Opposition parties is known as Her Majesty's Opposition. The role of the Official Opposition is to question and scrutinise the work of Government. The Opposition often votes against the Government. In a sense the Official Opposition is the "Government in waiting".
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