Jeremy Corbyn pressed the prime minister on the issue during PMQs but got the same answer each time: there was no special deal

Theresa May has repeatedly denied that her government made a special deal over social care with Surrey council following the release of a recording in which the council leader talked of a “gentleman’s agreement” with ministers.

In the secret recording of a Surrey Conservative group meeting last month, the leader, David Hodge, described a series of conversations involving the communities secretary, Sajid Javid, before the council suddenly dropped a plan for a possible 15% rise in council tax to pay for social care.

Jeremy Corbyn previously asked May about leaked text messages indicating there had been a special deal for Surrey, but was told no special arrangement had been made. At prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, the Labour leader said: “The prime minister’s response was to accuse me of peddling alternative facts. Could the prime minister explain the difference between a sweetheart deal and a gentleman’s agreement?”

May responded by saying that Surrey, like all councils, had been given the power to raise council tax by 3% to help finance social care, and was part of a pilot scheme allowing local authorities to retain business rates income.

“The substance of what he is asking is, has there been a particular deal with Surrey county council that is not available to other councils,” she said. “And the answer to that is no.”

Corbyn pressed May further, saying: “My question is: what deal was done with Surrey county council? Because there is an acute social care crisis that affects every council – £4.6bn of cuts to social care since 2010.

“Can the prime minister tell every council in England what gentleman’s agreement is available to them?”

May responded by mocking Corbyn’s struggles with dissent from Labour’s backbenches.

“If he’s asking me if there was a special deal for Surrey that was not available for other councils, the answer is no,” she said. “If he’s looking to uncover a conspiracy, I suggest he just looks behind him.”

Corbyn asked May that if the arrangements were “so clear and above board”, whether the government would place in the Commons library a record of all one-to-one meetings between Javid, the chancellor, Philip Hammond, and any council leader or chair of social services in England.

May opted to not respond, and leaned back on her bench to laugh theatrically when Corbyn accused her of being unclear about what deal had been offered to Surrey.

“Really, he should listen to the answers I give before he asks the next question,” she responded.



The exchanges did not entirely clear up what Hodge meant in the recorded discussions about why Surrey dropped a plan for a referendum for local voters on a proposed 15% council tax rise to help finance social care.

In the recording, Hodge said someone – seemingly an MP acting as an intermediary – had spoken to Javid as the minister was sitting in a car outside Downing Street. That was followed by a second meeting with Hammond, he said.

Hodge said the MP was “looking for assurances [from Javid in the car], looking for clarification, looking for help basically on how we could stop the referendum”.

“[The MP] then went inside and spoke to the chancellor – I think I can say that. He went inside and spoke to the chancellor, his spad [special adviser] was waiting ... He was with him and then the spad rang me with what we can and cannot say,” Hodge added, according to a transcript of the meeting passed to the Guardian.