Part of the debate – in the House of Commons am 12:00 am ar 20 Rhagfyr 1973.
I am glad that the hon. Gentleman has made his figure clear. The £81 million represented cuts requested last May. They were being taken into account, of course, in the rate support grant discussions. One estimates that the addition brought about by the new cuts will be about £100 million. The hon. Gentleman is quite right. I did not appreciate that he was taking into account the £81 million asked for in May. Here we are faced with a situation in which it is necessary for the Government, because of the need to conserve resources, particularly those which demand energy and fuel, to make this cut-back. In making these cuts, the guidelines that I give and have been giving to local authorities come under three headings—