Speeches by McMahon.

“In all areas, there is more than adequate time to prepare final proposals. Councils in the devolution priority programme have until September, and all others—the majority—have until November. That is more than adequate time for councils to be able to marshal and get their plans together and make an assessment on that b…”

“This month, we are consulting on an updated assessment of need that we will implement from 2026-27. Importantly, that includes the indices of multiple deprivation, a designated national statistic, and it will drill down to deprivation levels of between 400 and 1,200 households in each of those units. Our intention is t…”

“That is one of the reasons why the Surrey arrangement was accelerated. We recognised the lack of balance between the debt liability and the assets and incomes. We also recognised that the unitaries would have to be financially viable, and we are well on track to delivering that, in partnership with the local councils.”

“Quite frankly, it is a bit rich for any shadow Minister to critique the current system when the Conservatives deliberately designed it in their 14 years in government. The question is how we go about repairing it. One thing must absolutely be put right; the disjointed system in which different Government Departments wo…”

“What I can say is that the passion, enthusiasm and commitment shown by all Members here today in talking about the importance of these places of worship—not only the historical status they give to a place in terms of belonging and sense of pride, but how they act as a community anchor for the future—is absolutely appre…”

“I did my best to outline the range of different funding available to local churches and places of worship; this fund is just one of a number. On my hon. Friend’s particular point about the continuation of the fund, Members will appreciate that any matter of future funding is a matter for the spending review, and every …”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Jeremy. Good morning to everybody in the Chamber. I thank the right hon. Member for Salisbury (John Glen) for securing the debate and the Second Church Estates Commissioner, my hon. Friend the Member for Battersea (Marsha De Cordova), for the significant work that …”

“From the infancy of local government in England, councils have always played a bit of a role in supporting local economic development. Many of the commercial assets that councils hold are not held purely as commercial investments. They might have a commercial return on that investment, but they are primarily about supp…”

“Thankfully, we have not had any section 114s this year as a result of financial distress. We touch wood every day that it has not happened yet, because we recognise that the system is very fragile. We also recognise that we have supported more exceptional financial support cases, because of the different approach that …”

“Wales is a nation; it is not a council. There is a difference between doing it on a national footprint and doing it council by council. On an issue like this, which is so fundamental to the funding of local public services and to individual households, in terms of the bill that is passed on to them, as a Government you…”

“My honest view is that many councils have been forced to increase council tax to the absolute maximum at every opportunity, in a way that, for some households, has proven a significant burden. In part, that has been driven by the previous Government, which actively took away revenue support grant from councils to be ab…”

“We probably ought to avoid trying to reinvent the wheel. There were more than adequate examples during the last Labour Government of what good, early, family-based and neighbourhood-based intervention can be. Perhaps the problem in politics is that it takes a long time to prove the concept, and a young person may have …”

“I do not accept that it is the elephant in the room. If it is, we’re all at the circus, because everyone keeps talking about the elephant. It is more about the priorities of the Government. The priorities of the Government have got to be stabilising a system that is on the edge of collapse from the inheritance we had. …”

“In a way it is both, isn’t it? They are the delivery arm of government. They are on the ground in communities and they are marshalling frontline workers to deal with the social and economic challenges that the country faces. They are also, I think, the part of government that can unleash community potential, whether th…”

“I am working to a timeframe for rebuilding, within the Parliament, the foundations of a system that was on the edge of collapse. The work that we are doing on structural reforms to local government is a significant project. To change a third of England’s governance structures is not simple at the best of times, but to …”

“All the evidence says that the number of young people who need specialist educational support outside of mainstream provision is increasing all the time, and the cost of that provision is increasing, too. Where there is a coming-together is that I think most parents want their child to go to the local school, and for t…”

“No. There is no current work programme to embark on a revaluation, any more than there is one for redrawing the council tax system. We get ideas and suggestions all the time: “Wouldn’t this make a good intervention?” I will be honest and say that with any system like this that is established but also very complex, what…”

“First of all, I completely recognise all those pressures. They are pressures that we are alive to, first in terms of dealing with the underlying causes that are leading to those pressures, and secondly in supporting local government to bridge to what will be a more sustainable footing. There is no doubt that the impact…”

“I will let Nico talk about what the art of the possible might be. In the end, there will always be things that you could do—you have given some examples of the type of interventions that you could make—but there are no interventions on council tax that do not have consequences for somebody. It is a system that has to g…”

“I think I recall those comments, which I assume were made in opposition, as supported by the evidence: in terms of the unequal nature of council tax, it is a fact that areas with lower tax bases have to charge more per band A and band B property than areas with more affluent properties in higher bands. That is a matter…”