It has been stated, and I have no doubt, that the Minister, like many of his predecessors, has great reforming zeal. Previous Ministers embarked on campaigns to reform local government, but they all made the fatal mistake of failing to reform the financial aspects. Local government is totally starved of funds and unable to deliver the services that are so necessary to the public. There are some examples of this which never cease to amaze me. In the economic boom that has just passed, a decision was taken by the Minister to cap the rates pertaining to local authorities at a time when ratepayers could have afforded to pay an increase and when local authorities could have garnered money to deliver services. When there was an economic downturn and when things started to go wrong – I am not suggesting that this is because of Government mishandling – the first thing the Minster did was to lift the cap and put an onus on members of local authorities to pass on increases in rates to the public. The latter happened this year. If that is reform of local government, I do not understand it.