Mr George Kynoch: Opposition?
Mr George Kynoch: Council tax levels will depend on the decisions of individual councils.
Mr George Kynoch: I thank the right hon. Gentleman for at least being big enough to be thankful for the fact that my right hon. Friend and I listened to his lobbying on behalf of the Borders council. I was surprised that his colleague the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire (Mr. Kirkwood) did not mention that in yesterday's debate. At its request, the Scottish Borders council has the flexibility to spend...
Mr George Kynoch: My hon. Friend works on the same principle as I do. A reasonable settlement that allows South Ayrshire council to increase its expenditure next year by £3.5 million, or 3.21 per cent., should be more than adequate to maintain the level of services and to improve them. My hon. Friend is right: the Labour administration, with the level of cuts that it apparently wants to make, has sought an...
Mr George Kynoch: Yesterday, the hon. Gentleman used the excuse that he had been stuck on an aeroplane at Glasgow airport for his poor performance at the Dispatch Box. I am not sure what his excuse is today. He implied that the Government will not be re-elected, so I assume that he thinks that his party will be elected. Given that he is critical of this year's local government settlement, he should tell the...
Mr George Kynoch: My hon. Friend is absolutely right about the management of taxpayers' money. The difference between the Government and the Opposition is that we believe that we are the trustees of the taxpayer. I sometimes wonder whether the Opposition realise that central Government and local government funding comes from the taxpayer. I heartily agree with my hon. Friend that such mismanagement is a...
Mr George Kynoch: My right hon. Friend has today announced full details of the central challenge fund winners. Nineteen bids have been successful in full or in part, with awards totalling £59 million.
Mr George Kynoch: I am sorry, but the hon. Gentleman was not grateful yesterday, and we made the announcement today. I am sorry to say that on this occasion the Hawick bid has not been successful. The good news for Hawick, as the hon. Gentleman is only too well aware, is that it is one of the pilots for the small towns initiative which was announced a little while ago. It will be up to the local enterprise...
Mr George Kynoch: It never ceases to amaze me where my hon. Friend has been and what he has been involved in, but that is why he will be so successful in the general election. I am grateful to my hon. Friend for recognising the fact that Perth and Kinross council's bid for flood prevention works in Perth will be a major beneficiary of the challenge fund. The funding will cover five years, and that shows how...
Mr George Kynoch: Edinburgh council will receive £7 million for the north Edinburgh project, and I am sure that the hon. Gentleman welcomes that good news for the people in Granton and surrounding areas, who will receive significant benefits. When my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State made his allocation for local authorities, he took full account of the provision for the capital challenge fund to put...
Mr George Kynoch: I am grateful that the hon. Lady has recognised that we have given something to the flood prevention proposal, because it is not so long since she told me that, in her opinion, we would not give anything to the scheme. We will consider any application seriously, but some of the applications that she mentions have not yet reached the stage of being schemes. When they have, they will be...
Mr George Kynoch: Public expenditure per head in Scotland is about 25 per cent. higher than in England, and Glasgow benefits significantly as a result.
Mr George Kynoch: The hon. Gentleman should be addressing some of his comments to Glasgow city council. My hon. Friend the Housing Minister just mentioned some of the prioritisation that is going on in Glasgow at present. Incidentally, I should say, for the benefit of the hon. Member for Gordon (Mr. Bruce), who said that Laurencekirk was not getting a school, that it successfully obtained it through the...
Mr George Kynoch: We have had the usual local government debate, as I described in my introduction. All Opposition Members have used their usual ploy of calling for more funding and saying that local government is suffering cuts. Thankfully, that is not the case, and we have given extra funding to local government. Of course, that is not our money, but taxpayers' money—something the Labour party always seems...
Mr George Kynoch: I will let the hon. Lady correct the remark.
Mr George Kynoch: I am delighted to hear the hon. Lady rephrase that. [Interruption.] The hon. Member for Glasgow, Springburn (Mr. Martin) is shouting from a sedentary position.
Mr George Kynoch: If I referred to anything that the hon. Lady did not actually say, I apologise.
Mr George Kynoch: As I have just said, if I said anything that the hon. Lady did not say, I apologise and withdraw that statement. The hon. Member for Cunninghame, North (Mr. Wilson) has significant cheek in coming to the House at the tail end of the debate and with no intention of contributing to it, but—in his usual manner—raising irrelevant points of order.
Mr George Kynoch: I should like to continue in a positive vein. My hon. Friend the Member for Eastwood referred obliquely—as did the hon. Members for Maryhill and for Springburn—to the fact that people around Glasgow use facilities in Glasgow. As I explained to the hon. Members for Springburn and for Maryhill, the GAE formulae take account of commuter traffic and people visiting from outside Glasgow....
Mr George Kynoch: It is a responsibility that we delight in taking. We believe that we should be the trustees of the taxpayer and that we should give a sensible and reasonable settlement to local government. That we believe we have done. We heard a remarkable admission from the hon. Member for Dundee, East (Mr. McAllion), who said that if my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland could not get...
