Rates (Glasgow District)

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 6:32 pm on 21 July 1983.

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Photo of Michael Ancram Michael Ancram Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scottish Office) 6:32, 21 July 1983

I hope that if the right hon. Gentleman finds that he is wrong he will have the decency to withdraw his remarks.

We have been told by the Opposition that the Government have failed to justify their action against Glasgow. We took this action on the basis of a number of criteria about which the Opposition know. They also know that the statistics and the criteria were changed following the meeting with myself when it was accepted that the £4 million should not be counted as relevant expenditure for the purposes of assessing excess over guidelines. Even with those adjustments, the guidelines excess in Glasgow remained at 30·5 per cent., well above the average district level of 21·8 per cent. The expenditure per head, even after that adjustment, reduced from £112·32 to £107·06, is well above the average for comparators of £67·11. Despite the consultations and the close attention that I paid to the representations made to me which I reported to my right hon. Friend, the case against Glasgow is still strong. That council's expenditure is, in any view, excessive and unreasonable. For that reason, I ask the House to support the report.