Speeches by McMahon.

“I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Hastings and Rye (Helena Dollimore) on securing this evening’s important debate, and I thank her for speaking so powerfully on behalf of her constituents. She is a passionate champion for Hastings, and is leading the charge to ensure that not a single penny of Government inv…”

“Given the importance of business rates to both local government finance and local communities, and particularly to our high streets, our two Departments engage regularly on these matters. Pubs are eligible for the retail, hospitality and leisure relief scheme, and in the 2025-26 financial year pubs will benefit from a …”

“I share the shadow Minister’s observation about the complexity of the system; it only takes a small part of it to throw quite wild numbers out in different parts of the country, because there is a lot of commonality in local government but different types of councils are affected very differently by different elements …”

“Well, if it is intended to be a tax grab on pubs, we are not doing a very good job of it, because when the permanent scheme comes in, 99% of pubs that are under the £500,000 threshold will benefit from it. We absolutely recognise the importance of our community pubs in propping up the community and giving them places t…”

“I thank the Opposition spokesperson for his typically constructive response. On the matter of structural reform, there is agreement that it is far better that local government has long-term security and stability, and that, as much as possible, we tie down tax that is raised at a local level with the local accountabili…”

“The hon. Gentleman and all Members of the House have our absolute commitment that when we revise the funding formula, we will ensure that it takes into account all the matters he mentions. The multi-year settlement is intended to give stability. We have to make sure that councils are on their feet at the end of that. W…”

“We of course recognise the challenges that local authorities face, as demand increases for critical services. That is why the final settlement for 2025-26 made available over £69 billion for local government in England—a cash increase of 6.8% in core spending power on 2024-25. The most relatively deprived areas of Engl…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for the work that he is doing to champion pubs in his constituency. Like all of us, he recognises just how important they are to the economy, and probably even more so to local communities. The Government can do a lot on business rates and on things like the community right to buy, which gives th…”

“I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Non-Domestic Rating (Levy and Safety Net) (Amendment) Regulations 2025. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. The Government are working to fix the broken foundations that have left councils of all political stripes in crisis and as a resu…”

“That is exactly the reason that there was £3.7 billion of new money for adult social care in the Budget.”

“I can start by confirming that the Deputy Prime Minister did not mislead the House. The Opposition would do well not to muddy the waters. They know better than anybody what local government reorganisation means. Over the past few years, when they were in government, they postponed 17 sets of elections to allow reorgani…”

“I will not comment on individual councils, other than to say that this is why local government reorganisation is so important. In too many parts of England, the two-tier system is not working for local people. The two-tier premium means that a two-tier system is a more expensive way of delivering public services, and m…”

“There will be a constant review of savings. When local authorities transfer from shadow to their new unitaries, they will have to budget in for the budget settlement they have. There will be a to-ing and fro-ing with a multi-year settlement as part of that work. Central Government will have to take a view on what reali…”

“The PwC report is a good anchor. It holds to the evidence base that was drawn. It will naturally have limitations because it does not take into account the LGR proposals that will come forward. Until we see what areas are proposing and those proposals come into Government, it will be very hard to make an accurate asses…”

“The workforce group that we set up through the Department is across Government. It includes representatives from the Department for Education, Department of Health and Social Care, the LGA and other places. It is still working out its priority areas, but they are fairly self-evident. It is adult social care and childre…”

“The sector has done well, particularly the LGA, to provide that. We also know that the County Councils Network and the District Councils’ Network are fully engaged on this, understandably. There is lived experience, politically and professionally, in the councils that have been through reorganisation in Dorset, Cumbria…”

“We have considered that. It is correct to say that there will be some investment required to unlock some of that. That may well be capacity more than finance, although the two are related. It is more about seeing reorganisation as a project in the round. Even if investment were required up front, that would be realised…”

“They are all fair points. There are live conversations about how we support the sector. Some of it will be dependent on the scale of the requests that we get in for reorganisation as part of this current statutory invitation process. There is a recognition that support and capacity will need to be provided. Some of tha…”

“I would also be a bit careful. Not to get away from the significant pressures of Birmingham and other councils—they are self-evident—there is a lot of good work taking place in Birmingham as well. I would be a bit careful that we do not return to the way things were in our recent past when we start parading individual …”

“No, there is a difference between organisational efficiency and efficiencies of scale. They are not the same thing. When we look through the lens of reorganisation, it is self-evident that you can have fewer overhead costs and fewer posts doing the same job in multiple local authorities. In reducing the number of local…”