CONFUSION surrounds the Government’s response to calls for more spending powers from Oxfordshire’s council leaders.

On Monday, Oxfordshire County Council leader Ian Hudspeth said £300m extra could be available to county coffers each year if it had some control of business rates and sales and incomes tax.

His call was backed by Oxford City Council leader Bob Price, who said councils could use the Oxfordshire Growth Board as a vehicle for new powers.

But when the Oxford Mail contacted the Government’s Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), Minister for Local Government Kris Hopkins appeared to provide two different views in one answer.

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Mr Hopkins said there was “real scope to go further” with devolution in England of power and finance. But he also said localism “should be about devolving power to the lowest appropriate level”.

He added: “The starting point should be increasing local democracy and local accountability, so people can challenge councils and hold them to account about services they provide.”

The Oxford Mail asked a DCLG spokeswoman to clarify the minister’s position, but received no response.

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