It was straight to work this week with internal meetings in Parliament and on Whitehall. It was great to speak at a Devolution North All Parliamentary Party Group briefing on the upcoming English Devolution Bill. We talked about how it will reset the relationship between the government, local councils and mayors by extending devolution to drive growth far and wide in every community.
I strongly welcome this week’s publication of Baroness Casey’s review into group-based child sexual exploitation. This is a vital and long overdue step towards justice for victims and survivors across the country.
After engaging with MPs, group leaders and the local government sector, we have announced a consultation on council tax reforms bills more manageable for working people across the country. Labour inherited a local government sector on its knees – councils pushed to the financial brink, facing rising demand, and working people not receiving the quality local services they rightly deserve.
There’s broad agreement across council leaders, experts, and parliamentarians that the current funding model is broken and unfair. This government is stepping up to deliver the fairer system promised in the 2017 Fair Funding Review but never delivered.
These reforms are urgently needed to put councils on a stable footing and ensure better services for residents – especially working people – right across the country. It’s a key part of our Plan for Change to deliver the outcomes people deserve.
We are also reforming children’s social care and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), including ensuring councils are properly funded to support the most vulnerable children.
This work comes alongside measures to simplify the funding system to get better value for money for the taxpayer and make tax collection fairer by spreading payments over 12 monthly bills as standard. Under these new plans, payment plans will now need to be offered, with councils working closely with those struggling with their bills – overhauling the current cruel system where people who miss a payment are expected to immediately pay the year’s sum.
More widely, we are doing more to tackle the cost of living crisis by expanding our Warm Home Scheme. This will means millions more families will get £150 off their bills this coming winter – putting more money in the pockets of working people as part of our Plan for Change.
Instead of being back in Oldham on Friday to end the week, MPs stayed down in Parliament to vote on the Assisted Dying Bill at its third and final reading in the Commons. The compassion that motivates many who support this bill is evident, and I do not question the sincerity or integrity of those who voted differently today. However, having weighed the final version of the bill against my own reservations, I have again voted against it.
Jim McMahon OBE MP 