House of Commons
Parliament

We'll be leaving our coverage of the Commons here for today.

We'll resume our coverage of the Commons at 11.30am tomorrow with questions to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, before PMQs at midday.

DUP MP Gavin Robinson will then introduce his Armed Forces Covenant (Duty of Public Authorities) Bill which aims to ensure uniformity of approach from government departments in implementing the Armed Forces Covenant.

After this, MPs will debate two motions: the appointment of the new Comptroller and Auditor-General to replace Sir Amyas Morse, whose 10 year term of office is coming to an end, and the social security motion.

Marking Cancer Week, Conservative MP Simon Hoare will lead the adjournment debate on Prostate Cancer.

MPs are presenting petitions on the future of maintained nursery schools.

There are a huge number...

House of Commons
Parliament

MPs have voted in favour of a motion on the local government finance settlement for England 2019-2020 after a division.

In all, 298 voted in favour of the motion, with 240 voting against - a majority of 58.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Summing up the debate for the government, Housing, Communities and Local Government Minister Rishi Sunak says he acknowledges that MPs have said the current funding formula is not entirely effective, and the government will develop a funding formula that is "right for every single part of the country".

On adult social care, Mr Sunak says "the solutions should be radical, not stasis, and should include the recommendations of the select committee".

Our local councils support the most vulnerable in our society, drive economic growth and bring strong communities, he says. "I am proud that this government is backing them to do all three."

Mr Sunak says he is "delighted" that the settlement provides local authorities with a real terms increase in financial resources to fulfil vital work.

"We don't value success based on how much money we spend, but on how many lives we are changing," he adds, noting the government is working hard to ensure people are getting "the best possible services".

House of Commons
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Image source, HoC

Winding up the local government debate, shadow communities and local government minister Jim McMahon says "we have not heard or seen much today" in the local government finance motion.

Mr McMahon says people are questioning why they are paying council tax at all when their services are being reduced.

"There is story after story of the community cost that austerity has had, with no shift from the government," he adds, saying this is because "it has been deliberate and targeted from day one".

The government has been good at shifting money from those who need it most to areas which will please its own backbenchers, he adds, noting that the government is taking from the poor and giving to the rich.

"This is politically motivated," Mr McMahon says, "they have failed to be fair and failed to serve the people we are here to serve."

"Shame on the lot of you," he concludes.

House of Commons
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Image source, HoC

Conservative MP Huw Merriman says councillors want longer term certainty.

He says councils are asking the government for money when it is needed, and the government in this settlement is providing more funds, "but this is not a stable long term solution".

He draws attention to countries such as Japan and Germany, where drastic reform of local government has radically improved services.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Labour MP Liam Byrne says the settlement is "a disgrace", and that the hardships local authorities are facing "will only get worse".

He questions how the government could rustle up £1bn for the DUP "in a matter of days", yet they can let four in 10 children in Birmingham grow up in poverty.

Mr Byrne says the fact that one homeless person a week dies in the West Midlands is "a national scandal" and yet the government has done nothing about it in this settlement.

"It will take a Labour government to bring justice back," he concludes.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Liberal Democrat local government spokesperson Wera Hobhouse says properly funded local government is "crucial".

"These proposals are highly divisive and will starkly increase inequalities across the country," she says, noting that there "should not be a postcode lottery for local services".

The principle of democracy has been removed from local government, Ms Hobhouse adds, noting that the funding settlement is "woefully inadequate" and that she will vote against it.

House of Commons
Parliament

Conservative MP Peter Aldous says there is "very little if any fat left on the bone" in terms of local authorities' funding.

He adds that the settlement does not deal with the uncertainty beyond 2020 which is creating significant financial risks for councils.

Mr Aldous calls for a more long-term proposal to be brought to the House as soon as possible, as "having good local services is extremely important".

House of Commons
Parliament

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Conservative MP for Northampton South Andrew Lewer says Conservative run Northamptonshire County Council "to his dismay" has become a shorthand expression for things going wrong "to rival Venezuela".

The cash-strapped county council is due to be scrapped in 2020, along with seven other Northamptonshire borough and district councils, to make way for two new unitary authorities.

Mr Lewer says today's announcement will be welcomed by Northamptonshire County Council colleagues, but notes that a more long term plan for adult social care funding is needed.

On the news that a green paper on adult social care will be revealed in April, he adds that "after all the delays, it better be good".

"Nothing is more central to effective local government funding than getting this right," he concludes.

House of Commons
Parliament

Conservative Bob Neill says his local council of Bromley is facing a funding gap of "twenty to thirty million" which he says is "not sustainable". He calls for a "fairer funding review" as well as a "radical devolution of business rates".

Jo Johnson, another Conservative MP whose constituency is in Bromley, says the council has made "enormous efficiencies" to soak up a 50% funding cut and says the council should be "rewarded".

Bob Neill agrees and says Bromley has "traditionally been a low cost authority" but because of that efficiency, there is "no fat to cut".

The system, he says, offers "no reward for efficiency...if anything you get penalised".

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Labour MP Chris Matheson says there seem to be many "special deals" for Conservative run councils, and calls for a fairer distribution of funds, and an overhaul of the local government funding system.

Mr Matheson calls for the government to announce which services are being cut to allocate the extra funding being proposed.

"The richer councils will get richer and the poorer councils will get poorer under this government's plans," he adds, noting that ministers "must take responsibility for the effects their actions are having on the real world".

House of Commons
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Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee Chair Clive Betts says cuts are "hitting communities".

In his own city of Sheffield, he says, they now have libraries staffed by volunteers, cuts to road safety funding, bus routes scrapped and children's centres closed. "Members opposite, it's happening in their constituencies too", he adds.

"I'm paying a lot more, as council tax rises, and I'm getting a lot less", he says, which is a situation if it continues which will threaten people's support for local democracy.

He also says "the biggest cuts have been in the poorest areas"..

He says that moving forward, MPs need to "make sure that we all stand up for local government", ensure that councils do "better out of the next spending review" and that resources are "fairly allocated".

House of Commons
Parliament

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Shadow communities and local government secretary Andrew Gwynne says the government has made the debate surrounding local government finance an urban vs rural narrative "by the perverse way they've approached local government funding".

There has been a "shameful" shift away from spending based on need, he says, and notes the nine local authorities who have seen the biggest cuts in recent years have been Labour controlled.

The local government finance settlement is a "perverse reverse redistribution", Mr Gwynne adds, "the way they propose to distribute the original money is unfair."

Andrew Gwynne says the opposite benches are "cheering cuts to the poorest in our communities", and notes that the government is showing no urgency to produce a green paper on adult social care despite there being a £1.5bn funding gap for next year.

"Local authorities need a government that will rebuild the country for the many and not the few," he concludes.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Shadow communities and local government secretary Andrew Gwynne says "we expected better and wanted to see better" from the government.

He says he wants to start by "thanking our dedicated council staff" who have been "hung out to dry by successive secretaries of state" over the past nine years.

He says that today's funding settlement has "no new money, no new ideas, no recognition of the dire situation facing councils".

He goes on to quote from a Local Government Association report that says councils are on for a funding gap of £1.5bn in social care, £1.1bn in children's social services, £113m in homelessness services and £531m in public health.

He says that the LGA thinks that by 2025 there will be a £7.8bn funding gap.

House of Commons
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Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary James Brokenshire says local authorities will maintain the same level of council tax referendum limits in 2019/20 as this year.

He adds that under the Labour party, "people paid the price", whereas this government is ensuring "a pragmatic approach to deliver a new and fair formula which reboots the system of local government".

Mr Brokenshire says that he announced £56.5m investment over 2019-2020 for councils to ensure that local areas are prepared for Brexit, and that the government is committed to ensuring local government is greatly supported.

House of Commons
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Image source, HoC

MPs are now debating the Local Government Finance Report 2019/20, external. The report sets out funding for local councils in England.

Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary James Brokenshire says that total central government funding for councils will "increase from £45.1bn to £46.4bn in 2019/20" which is "good news for the many communities who will benefit".

The debate begins with a barrage of Labour MPs intervening to complain that local services are being underfunded. Labour's Tan Singh Dhesi from Slough is just one MP to say that there has been a disproportionate cut to services in Slough compared to other areas.

What Mr Brokenshire won't have been expecting though are complaints from the Conservative backbenches.

Anna Soubry says the budget of Nottinghamshire County council has faced a "52% cut" since 2010 and that "despite excellent management" by the Conservative administration "cuts have been going on for too long...they will now have to cut through the muscle into the bone". She says she will abstain on the vote later tonight.

East Worthing and Shoreham MP Tim Loughton also raises cuts in his council area, saying that his council's troubled families program might be at risk due to cuts, which he calls a "catastrophe".

House of Commons
Parliament

MPs approve the police grant report motion by 310 votes to 254, a majority of 56.

It was also endorsed by a majority of MPs representing English and Welsh constituencies.

MPs are now debating the local government finance settlement, which sets out central government funding to councils for the next financial year.

Select Committee
Parliament

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Asked about increases in cases syphilis and gonorrhoea over the past decade, Ian Green of the Terence Higgins Trust says the reasons are "complicated" and "changes in sexual behaviour" are definitely a factor.

To fight the rises, he says that the government needs an "overarching strategy" on sexual health.

He says the Department of Health last put out a report on the issue in 2013, which only covered that one department. He says there needs to be a whole-government approach.