Local Government Finance

The hon. Gentleman has identified an interesting trend. The proudest boast of the leader of Hammersmith and Fulham council is that he has got rid of 1,000 jobs in the last three years—he has sacked 1,000 people in the middle of a recession—yet that same council is investing £35 million in a new extension to the town hall. These municipal monstrosities are examples of just the sort of grandiose projects of local government that we thought were things of the past, but they are not. This is not only happening in Croydon, therefore.