A Private Members Bill, designed to give councils more control over how they spend their money, passed its second reading in Parliament on Friday. The Sustainable Communities Bill, which is being sponsored by Ruislip-Northwood Conservative MP Nick Hurd, was backed by 175 votes to 17 in the House of Commons. The Bill has cross-party support and has been drawn up by the lobby group Local Works, and would require the Government to provide local authorities with annual accounts of how public money is spent in their area. Councils would also be given the powers to redirect that money to reflect local priorities. A Local Works spokesman said: ‘The heart of this Bill is trusting local people and local government to know what is best for them.' The Bill now goes to committee stage. But local government minister, Phil Woolas, said he was concerned that it was more bureaucratic and less devolutionary than the Local Government Bill. ‘Our Bill introduces a raft of new measures to enable local people to have far greater say in decisions which affect their communities,' he said.