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Mr. Yeo: My hon. Friend is absolutely right. On top of the cuts which Oxfordshire county council faces as a result of capping, it faces an extra £2 million bill for pension fund contributions every year from now on. That
means that another 17 teachers face the sack, five more small libraries face closure and more buildings and roads will go unmaintained. That is the effect of the smash-and-grab raid the Chancellor has carried out on the pension fund to which Oxfordshire county council contributes.
Mr. Soames: Does my hon. Friend agree that the woeful tale of what has been inflicted on Oxfordshire as a result of the Government's decision could also be inflicted on West Sussex? If it has to make up the shortfall brought about by the smash-and-grab raid from its own resources, the same awful cuts will be inflicted on West Sussex county council--with a new administration--which has run its affairs with a good deal of prudence.
Mr. Yeo: My hon. Friend has put his finger on the point. His county council and many others will face a crisis when they draw up their budgets next year because of the Minister's refusal to say that she will even consider the problem for two years.
One local authority which, I am glad to say, avoided capping this year, is the London borough of Hillingdon. Its spending is currently some £190 million a year but it now faces a bill of £2.2 million a year extra for its pension fund contributions. Where do the Government think Hillingdon should find that money? Will Hillingdon's cap be raised next year so that the shortfall--
Mr. Deputy Speaker:
Order. The hon. Gentleman must not dwell on local authorities that are not specifically mentioned in the order.
Mr. Yeo:
I accept your ruling, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Hillingdon had been in my mind because I spent a pleasant morning there today in the company of an excellent local resident and business man, John Randall.
In dealing with this issue, the Government come face to face with an unpleasant reality. Those early joyful days when the Government Benches were packed with new hon. Members waving their Order Papers at every utterance of the Minister who was speaking are passing. Many Labour Members elected for the first time this year have backgrounds in local government. They know privately what this smash-and-grab raid means for councils throughout the country, which is why they have been told not to speak to the media about it. I hope that, before long, some of them will have the courage and integrity to recognise that they were elected not to echo the Prime Minister's words or to jump at the whim of the Minister without Portfolio, but to serve the interests of their constituents, to exercise their judgment on behalf of the voters and to use the freedom of speech in the House. Hiding from the problem created by the Government will not make it go away; postponing looking for a solution will not make the solution easier to find, cheaper to implement or more palatable to those who pay the bills.
Mr. Andy King (Rugby and Kenilworth):
Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, for allowing me to use today's debate to make my maiden speech.
I am extremely honoured and privileged to be here representing the constituency of Rugby and Kenilworth. I turn first to the person whom I have replaced, Mr. James Pawsey. He was a good constituency Member of Parliament and an extremely worthy opponent. I wish him and his family well. A Member of Parliament who preceded James Pawsey was Bill Price, who served the constituency of Rugby between 1966 and 1979. Throughout the campaign, I was constantly reminded of how good a constituency Member of Parliament Bill Price had been by people who spoke of him warmly and affectionately. I have never met Bill Price, but I look forward to meeting him one day soon. I thank him for the service he gave to Rugby.
In preparing for my speech, I looked at the maiden speeches of both James Pawsey and Bill Price. It is strange how cyclical issues are--they come back to haunt one. James said:
The constituency of Rugby and Kenilworth is at the very heart of England. It has enjoyed local industry--especially manufacturing--and is now beginning to welcome new industries to the area. We have two large traditional industries. I wish GEC Alsthom especially well at this time. I visited it some six months ago with my right hon. Friend the Member for Derby, South (Mrs. Beckett), now President of the Board of Trade, and I was extremely impressed by the standard and quality of the manufacturing taking place in Rugby. Peugeot has a plant at Ryton in my constituency and is also doing extremely well. Warwick university is situated near Kenilworth and has an enormous influence on life in the town.
Rugby and Kenilworth have suffered quite badly during the recessions experienced under the Conservative Government, but we are at last seeing regeneration in our area. Large shops are returning to our town centres, which currently look more like Beirut than those of a modern economy. Sainsbury has recently moved into Kenilworth
high street, which is excellent news because the shops there were dying. At long last, there is about to be a major redevelopment in Chapel street in Rugby, and Marks and Spencer is committed to opening a large new shop there. I welcome those moves by two large retailing companies, which show confidence in Rugby and Kenilworth.
As one of my first duties, I had the privilege of opening the new temporary library in Rugby--another long- awaited development. In fact, we have been waiting for the best part of 50 years and we are looking forward to having within one or two years a new library, a new museum and a new art gallery in Rugby.
Jim Pawsey referred to the reorganisation of schools and the use of receipts from such a reorganisation. As my hon. Friend the Minister for Local Government and Housing said, we undertook a major reorganisation of Warwickshire schools. We based that reorganisation on a full and proper consultation with all of the stakeholders in the system--pupils, governors, parents and teachers--and at the end of the process we came up with the right result. We took some very painful decisions, but the children of Warwickshire and of my constituency have benefited enormously from that reorganisation.
Today the people of Warwickshire are about to embark on another consultation exercise, this time about the future of health services at the Hospital of St. Cross. I want that consultation to be as meaningful as the exercise undertaken in respect of the reorganisation of education in Warwickshire. I want my constituents to play a full and informed part in the debate, which is to take place over the next three months. I want us to emerge at the end with a national health service that is worthy of a Labour Government--one that enables us to deliver good-quality services at local level for our country's people.
I greatly welcome my hon. Friend the Minister's handling of the sensitive issue of the £2 million for Warwickshire. That money is vital to the county in delivering the quality of education to which we are committed. My hon. Friend listened to our case and understood our uniqueness and I am eternally grateful to her for doing so. She mentioned that we took out surplus places in Warwickshire--in fact, 10,000 were taken out during the reorganisation, and every penny of the money saved has been put back into the pupils. We have targeted all our expenditure on the children who need the resources for their education. We have also reinvested in crumbling schools, and I am proud of the results of our efforts.
I am also very proud to have been a member of Warwickshire county council for the past eight years. Ian Bottrill has provided superb leadership in guiding us soundly and safely through a very difficult period. I pay tribute also to John Airey, who was chair of education during the reorganisation. He recently left politics, and I wish him well. I hope that he will return to public office in the very near future.
In Warwickshire, we are determined to provide the best possible education for our children. We will use the £2 million to reduce class sizes for five, six and seven-year-olds, and we shall deliver on the Labour party's promise to make education our first priority. As I have said, the Minister has listened to and understood our arguments, and she has begun to address the unfairness in funding for Warwickshire.
The previous Government listened to us often, but they never took action to address the problems. This Government have acted: we are committed to a partnership
between central Government, local government and industry. I look forward to participating in that meaningful partnership, and I shall truly value the experience of working together. At long last, we have a national Government who support local government.
"I move from the question of reorganisation to that of falling rolls. I believe that falling rolls, particularly in primary schools, represent a magnificent opportunity to improve the teacher-pupil ratio."
Sadly, during their 18 years in government the Conservatives failed singularly to address that issue, which is so important to young children. He also said:
"Indeed, I hope that the present Administration will look for fairer means of financing local government, for the present system of financing local government is manifestly unfair."--[Official Report, 16 May 1979; Vol. 967, c. 346.]
The Conservatives failed on that, too, I am afraid. They failed terribly in respect of Warwickshire and the people of Warwickshire do not feel that they have been treated fairly, especially in the past seven years. Lastly, James turned to another issue of the day--the Hospital of St. Cross, which has been constantly under threat throughout the period during which my predecessors were in this place.
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