Lords
Proceedings
11 June 2026
Welfare Reforms and Youth Unemployment
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Walker of Broxton. He has a huge amount of practical advice but, as he said, we cannot keep kicking the can down the road. Youth unemployment, he said, was a tragedy, and I agree with him. We have seen it rise in recent times. I thank the nob…
Lords
Debate
28 April 2026
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, I will start with Motion A. We have discussed brownfield prioritisation many times in this Chamber, and it is clear that we all agree that brownfield development should be prioritised. I am pleased that the Government have finally tabled an amendment to put that principle into legislation …
Lords
Debate
27 April 2026
2 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, I rise very briefly and with great pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Shipley. I agree with all the House’s alternative amendments, but I am going to speak just on Motion C1. I have spoken at every stage of the Bill on this issue.
Rather than repeat what I have said before, I will re…
My Lords, I beg leave to test the opinion of the House.
Lords
Debate
23 April 2026
5 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
The noble Baroness was not in the Chamber. I saw her take her seat.
My Lords, in following the noble Lord, Lord Fuller, I simply say that I entirely agree with Motion F1; in the interests of time, I will not go further. I declare my interests as vice-president of the Local Government Association and the National Association of Local Councils, which have particular r…
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
15 April 2026
2 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, to be clear, Amendment 5 removes a reference to a clause and a schedule that were removed from the Bill on Report on Monday. It is a consequential amendment, which I beg to move formally.
I am grateful for those contributions. They were in the same tone that we have had all through the Bill of constructive challenge where it is appropriate. I say to both opposition Benches that there are some further discussions to take place on the outstanding matters before we get through ping-pong…
Lords
Debate
13 April 2026
9 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, there were an awful lot of questions there for the Minister to answer. It would be better for the House if she responds to them, in particular to the nub of the question raised by the noble Lord, Lord Fuller, and the noble Viscount, Lord Trenchard.
I hope the Minister will not mind if I p…
My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend Lady Pinnock for making most of the points that I would have liked to make myself, so, given the need to move on, I will try to be brief.
This Bill is about English devolution and, in practice, decentralisation from Whitehall to mayors. There is actually v…
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
26 March 2026
5 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, I hope this group will be very brief, because I seek clarification from the Minister on a matter that has caused me some concern. Clause 16 of the Bill refers to
“Members of legislatures disqualified for being a mayor of a strategic authority”.
There is a whole variety of rules which, in…
My Lords, I thank the Minister for the clarity of his explanation: that as of today, existing legislation holds sway in this respect. With that assurance, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment.
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
24 March 2026
4 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, in this group I have Amendments 49, 95 and 96, and I have signed Amendment 182 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Bichard.
In speaking to Amendment 49, I want to thank the Minister for having written to us last week—she proposed a whole raft of new amendments on the scrutiny functions. M…
I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
24 March 2026
6 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, now that we are starting Report, I remind the House that I am a vice-president of the Local Government Association. I very much agree with what the noble Lord, Lord Bassam of Brighton, just said. To me, the word “culture” means a lot of things: tourism relates to culture; heritage is part …
My Lords, I have found this a very important discussion. I am in favour of all the amendments: they all seem to me to have merit. I noted the comments of the noble Lord, Lord Cameron of Dillington, who said that things are very different in rural England—for they are. He talked about empowering rura…
+4 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
11 February 2026
3 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, I thank all those who have spoken, in particular my noble friend Lord Wallace of Saltaire, who made a number of important points about all three of the suggestions before us. I thought the point from the noble Lord, Lord Mawson, was extremely well made: this is about place-making and what …
My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord Mohammed of Tinsley for speaking. I also thank the noble Lord, Lord Blunkett, in particular. I strongly support the stand part notices on Clause 59 and Schedule 27. The reason has been explained. This is a devolution Bill about community empowerment, but the Go…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
9 February 2026
4 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, briefly, I express my support for what the noble Baroness, Lady Scott of Bybrook, said. I suggest to the Minister that it might help, particularly as we approach the tabling of amendments on Report, if the Government were to produce a grid that shows what powers will reside where. There ar…
In view of the points made in the debate on this group of amendments, is it going to change?
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
4 February 2026
5 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, this is a very interesting group of amendments. I look forward to the responses of the Minister to the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh of Pickering, who made quite a number of important points, and to the noble Baroness, Lady Freeman of Steventon.
I just want to say something in relation to…
My Lords, I will be brief. I support all three of the amendments tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Best. The contributions so far have been very helpful; I hope that the Minister will take due notice of them.
I particularly support the optimal use of land. Amendment 240 talks about placing
“a statuto…
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
2 February 2026
3 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, my name appears on two of the amendments in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Moylan: Amendments 115A and 115B. However, I also subscribe to the principle of Amendment 116 in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, which was just discussed by the noble Baroness, Lady Jones of Moulseco…
My Lords, I very strongly support the noble Lord, Lord Ravensdale, and the cosignatories of this group of amendments. The points I will make will be very similar to those for the next group, which we will reach in a moment. The issue is important. I had not thought that immediately after Covid, the …
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
29 January 2026
4 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, these have been an interesting set of interventions. I agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Royall, that it is important that party-political contributions are kept to an absolute minimum when we are debating a Bill.
There is a basic issue in this group. The public have a right to expect t…
My Lords, I agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Scott of Bybrook, that Amendment 93 is sensible and proportionate. If you are going to have an annual report, the modest additional reporting proposed in this amendment would, as she said, help us understand better the success of devolution.
I will sp…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
27 January 2026
8 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, I shall be very brief because it would be better if the Minister responded to the important points that have been made.
I will not take up too much of the Committee’s time, but I want to say two things that will, I think, help in this situation. First, we must get clarity about which powe…
The noble Lord, Lord Cameron, said that it would be unhelpful if regional and local government continued doing their own thing. I think that this is an important debate and I look forward to the Minister’s reply, but the Government might look at the powers that existed with regional development agen…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
21 January 2026
4 contributions
Local Government (Exclusion of Non-commercial Considerations) (England) Order 2026
My Lords, I declare my interest as a councillor in central Bedfordshire.
We are generally coming to a fairly positive view across the parties on this instrument. It makes a notable change to the long-standing restrictions in Section 17 of the Local Government Act 1988, which were originally designe…
Councils can procure either singly in an area that they have determined or jointly with an area that is next to them. I am not sure that I can be any clearer in setting the proposal and I am not sure where the confusion is arising.
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
20 January 2026
6 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, I declare at the outset that I have been a vice-president of the Local Government Association for a number of years. The noble Baroness, Lady Scott of Bybrook, said many things with which I agree. We are in a position where we are seeing the cumulative impact of many years of underfunding—…
My Lords, I would like briefly to contribute in the hope that I can be helpful to the Minister at this point. There is a list of areas of competence in Clause 2. The noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, told us that this was a probing amendment. By implication, I think that that means some thought can now go …
+4 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
27 October 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, like the noble Lord, Lord Best, I hope the Minister will be in a frame of mind to accept the amendment that I too have signed. The case has been very amply made by the noble Lords, Lord Lansley and Lord Best, and I will seek to be brief as I possibly can. I believe that the Government will…
Lords
Committee Stage
15 October 2025
Building Safety Levy (England) Regulations 2025
I declare my interest as a councillor in central Bedfordshire. Fortunately, we do not have many high-rise buildings in rural areas.
In response to the Building Safety Levy (England) Regulations 2025, the principle is absolutely right that those who have profited from residential development should …
Lords
Debate
15 September 2025
3 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, having listened very carefully to the debate so far, I think the next best step would be to hear from the Minister, but I want to express some support for Amendment 362 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Lansley, and Amendment 195A in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Scott. I hope the…
Can the Minister explain who the funder of last resort is when a loss is delivered by a mayoral development corporation? Is it the council tax payer for the geographical area of the development corporation, the combined authority or the Government? To put it another way, who makes up, pays for, a lo…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
9 September 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, Amendment 160 is in my name and that of my noble friend Lady Pinnock. Given the debates and discussion that we have had on recent groups, it is increasingly important.
Amendment 160 seeks to implement a long-term spatial strategy, a “national spatial framework”, to bring together all the …
Lords
Committee Stage
9 September 2025
Interpreting Services in the Courts (Public Services Committee Report)
My Lords, I start by thanking the committee en bloc for the important work that it has done in looking at this subject which, as has already been observed, is something of a Cinderella in the justice system. I also thank the noble Baroness, Lady Morris, for her overview and introduction to the work …
Lords
Debate
4 September 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I will speak in support of Amendment 162 in the names of the noble Lords, Lord Lansley and Lord Best, as well as mine. As the noble Lord, Lord Lansley, has rightly pointed out, this is an issue of professional leadership. It also underpins the delivery of the Government’s objectives with t…
Lords
Committee Stage
3 September 2025
2 contributions
Local Audit (Amendment of Definition of Smaller Authority) Regulations 2025
As the noble Lord, Lord Shipley, was speaking, I was looking at the RPI tables from the Office for National Statistics. Had the £6.5 million been increased by inflation, it would have been £10.3 million. So we are seeing a proposed threshold that is fully 50% greater than the increase in inflation o…
My Lords, again, I raise my interest as a councillor in central Bedfordshire, which, just being slightly boastful, is a council that for the 10 years I was leader had its accounts audited and signed off every year within the deadline and was one of the few councils to do so.
I am grateful to the Mi…
Lords
Debate
15 July 2025
2 contributions
Renters’ Rights Bill
My Lords, in moving Amendment 107, I will also speak to Amendment 108. These amendments would remove unnecessary barriers to the use of licensing schemes to improve housing standards. Licensing raises housing standards: it can help to regenerate areas that are blighted by poor housing and other soci…
My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister and the noble Baroness, Lady Scott of Bybrook, for their comments. We clearly have a difference of opinion about the importance of selective licensing and the future operation of the decent homes standard. The Government have accepted the importance of selecti…