It is a question of deliberate policy, and, if you get rid of one group of men, their places will be taken by another group, and all you are doing is to make for a new Crisis in Local Government as the Labour party becomes stronger on our local authorities.

With the Crisis in Local Government swelling up as the years go on, with the financial position of local councils becoming more and more difficult, this additional burden will become a great challenge, and we will have to face it some day.

In the present circumstances we must make it abundantly clear where the responsibility rests for the financial Crisis in Local Government.

I believe that these things are the cause of the present Crisis in Local Government, which is, of course, a crisis not just about the rates but about spending generally.

There are four basic reasons for the financial Crisis in Local Government.

They are causing a serious Crisis in Local Government, of a sort that we have never seen before.

The Crisis in Local Government has arisen because, unlike earlier Governments who have legitimately taken a view about the contribution that they will make to local services, this Government have acted in an unprecedented manner by trying to dictate to local authorities what contribution the local authorities will make through the rates to their own local services.

The Government must reconsider, or they will create - yet again - a genuine financial Crisis in Local Government.

Does the Minister agree that it is sheer economic madness and incompetence of the highest order that, when we have a Crisis in Local Government with education, social services and housing, local authorities are unable to spend their own money, thereby saving by doing repairs this year rather than in future when the bill for such repairs will be greater?

It is true that many people do not like the way in which the Government are putting them in an invidious position through their policies, when the Government do not have the guts to stand up and say what they mean and what they want doing about the Crisis in Local Government.

Will the right hon. Gentleman accept that the real Crisis in Local Government is that he has taken £1,000 million from local government since 1979 and that Fife region has suffered severely from that policy.

On 26 June, the national executive committee of the Labour party, of which I am proud to be a member, made a lengthy statement on the Crisis in Local Government.

The Crisis in Local Government has certainly come.

That is where the Crisis in Local Government originated.

The Crisis in Local Government caused by the poll tax is more acute in Scotland because of that extra year of cost and chaos.

It is that policy which has caused the current financial Crisis in Local Government.

They know that, whatever propaganda, spin or mirrors are used on the manipulated figures, there is a Crisis in Local Government, that the 23rd Tory tax increase will go on to their council tax bills and that they will have to pay more to get less.

The problems are now overlaid by the financial Crisis in Local Government.

The Government have created the Current Local Government Crisis.

We shall have to attend to the building blocks of economic success as a priority after the election, because the underlying cause of the grant cuts and the Crisis in Local Government is the Government's economic failure.

That is the position now; is it not time that we had an independent inquiry into the Crisis in Local Government in Scotland so that we can see what the Prime Minister's party is doing to local government in Scotland?

That is at the root of the present Crisis in Local Government.

It is no secret that there is a great Crisis in Local Government at the moment, certainly in England.

That is why the noble Lord, Lord Laming, was so right in saying that the Local Government Crisis has happened because often people blame it for council tax levels that are not its doing.

The contribution of the noble Lord, Lord Laming, was valuable, as it highlighted the Crisis in Local Government.

Shropshire is not a county in Local Government Crisis - not yet, at any rate - as it is already one of the best-run counties in England.

The noble Lord, Lord Heseltine, as Secretary of State for the Environment, trying to recoup something from this Crisis of Local Government, decided to review not just the financing of local government, but its structure and management.

This Bill promises far-off help for people while services are getting worse right now, because the Government have failed to address the Crisis in Local Government's ability to fund social care.

I do not think it is dramatic to say we are facing a Crisis in Local Government.

It seems absolutely clear that there is a serious Crisis in Local Government in England in terms of funding and the resources allocated according to the funding formulas that are in place.