HAMPSTEAD and Kilburn MP Tulip Siddiq went head-to-head with David Cameron at Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday (Wednesday) as she claimed the government’s support for the Swiss Cottage skyscraper showed “utter disrespect” for local democracy. The exchange across the floor of the House of Commons saw Ms Siddiq tell the Prime Minister: “For two years my constituents and I campaigned against the development of a luxury skyscraper. The local councillors listened and rejected the planned development. “But then the Conservative minister for local government called in the decision and overturned the wishes of the community, showing utter disrespect for local democracy. “The prime minister preaches localism, but will he finally admit that his government only believes in the devolution of blame for cuts not the devolution of actual power for local communities?” In reply, Mr Cameron said: “We have a long-standing system for local planning but also being able to call in decisions, and that operated all the time under the last Labour government. “If anything, our local planning system is actually putting more power in the hands of local people because once they have completed their local plan it is then much easier to say ‘yes’ to developments that are in that plan and ‘no’ to developments that are outside of it.”