19 June 2008
The government should have shown greater 'political courage' and implemented Sir Michael Lyons' proposals on town hall finance, former deputy prime minister John Prescott told delegates on June 17.
The veteran Labour politician, who gave the conference's 2008 fringe lecture, said ministers had missed the opportunity to take much-needed action over the council finance regime.
Prescott, who was the Cabinet minister in charge of local government for almost a decade, latterly at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, said the current system of council tax was no longer sustainable.
'Everyone knows that changes are necessary. But if you're going to do anything, you do need to do it near the beginning [of an administration], not the end,' he said.
'We can't go on with the council tax being used to finance local authorities, and it will have to change.'
Prescott, who was Tony Blair's number two for ten years, also admitted he could not persuade the public to back elected English regional assemblies in 2004 because his Cabinet colleagues would not devolve sufficient powers from Whitehall.
PFjun2008
