14 November 2003
New shadow local government secretary David Curry has vowed to take the fight for council freedoms and flexibilities to the Labour government following his surprise appointment as one of the Conservatives' '12 apostles' this week.
The MP for Skipton and Ripon replaced David Davis as the man responsible for the Tories' local authority policies, with responsibility for all matters relating to devolution, following new Tory leader Michael Howard's streamlined reshuffle on November 10.
Curry promised to continue with his predecessor's plan to free local authorities from Whitehall control, but gave a firm indication that the current council tax system – which he described as 'under colossal strain' – will form the basis of the party's local government finance policy.
He told Public Finance: 'We'll be taking the battle to the government on two fronts. Firstly, in condemning their record on overseeing a period of absurd council tax hikes, we'll be seeking to expose Labour for having ordained tax increases without adequately helping to fund them.
'Secondly, while I do believe central government must have a say on local finance, we will seek to roll out more genuine freedoms for local authorities.'
Curry explained that schemes similar to Labour's plan to allow councils to keep income from business rate increases would find favour within his party.
It is perhaps no surprise that Curry favours retaining the council tax. He was the Conservatives' local government secretary between 1993 and 1996 and oversaw the abolition of the 'poll tax' in favour of the current system.
Meanwhile, Eric Pickles and Bernard Jenkin will stay on under Curry to complete the Conservatives' local and regional government team.
But Howard's decision to reduce the size of the shadow Cabinet from 25 to 12 came under fire. Giving party stalwart Tim Yeo two sizeable departments, education and health, met with widespread criticism.
Michael Ancram takes over as deputy leader and remains shadow foreign international development secretary. Liam Fox and Lord Saatchi are the party's new
co-chairs, while Oliver Letwin takes over as shadow chancellor. Davis has moved across to monitor David Blunkett's home affairs brief and former chair Theresa May is the new shadow transport and environment secretary.
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