Lords
Debate
11 September 2026
Leaseholder Remediation (Building Safety) Bill [HL]
My Lords, the terrible Grenfell tragedy exposed serious, deliberate and dangerous building practices that put, and still put, lives at risk. The estimate from the Commons’ Public Accounts Committee is that 3 million people may be affected. There are between 5,900 and 7,400 buildings over 11 metres w…
Lords
Proceedings
9 September 2026
National Infrastructure Projects: Devolution
My Lords, when the Minister responded to the noble Lord, Lord Fuller, she referred to local leaders. Can she confirm that the reference to “local leaders” is to city and county mayors? If so, where do local councils and local people fit into the decision-making on what could be very disruptive and i…
Lords
Proceedings
7 September 2026
Local Government Reorganisation
My Lords, I too thank the Minister for repeating the Statement. Across England, there will be thousands of councillors and council officers who have worked for months, sometimes years, to deliver an effective solution to the Government’s top-down reorganisation diktat. They will have devoted scarce …
Lords
Committee Stage
2 September 2026
Building Safety Levy (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2026
My Lords, first, I wish to welcome the noble Baroness, Lady Blake of Leeds, to her new role. I look forward to working with her; I am sure that we will agree on some occasions, maybe more than most. Let me say right from the beginning that we Liberal Democrats accept the technical changes in this SI…
Lords
Statutory Instrument
22 July 2026
Greater Cambridge Development Corporation (Establishment) Order 2026
My Lords, development corporations have been widely welcomed—with one exception—because they have an important function in enabling development decisions that cover a wide area. So, the question for us is not the about principle of development corporations, but whether the Greater Cambridge devco is…
Lords
Proceedings
21 July 2026
Local Government Reorganisation
My Lords, there are some deeply worrying elements in the Statement. First, it was issued on the final day before the Commons Recess. A momentous decision of that purport should be the subject of detailed scrutiny but that has been deliberately avoided. Secondly, the announcement has been made by a M…
Lords
Proceedings
9 July 2026
Tributes: Lord Mackay of Clashfern
My Lords, my noble friend Lord Purvis of Tweed really regrets that he cannot be here for these tributes, as he has been unavoidably detained in Scotland.
Much has been said already about Lord Mackay of Clashfern’s professional endeavours and immense achievements. A sense of him as a human being has…
Lords
Statutory Instrument
30 June 2026
3 contributions
Town and Country Planning (Discharge of Local Planning Authority Functions) (England) Regulations 2026
My Lords, I refer to my registered interest as a councillor on Kirklees Council. In my view, this is a developers’ charter. The Government have been hoodwinked into believing that around 5% of all planning applications that currently go to a planning committee for a decision are the basic cause of t…
I am really sorry to interrupt. It was not clear when I read the regulations, but is the Minister suggesting that any allocated site within the local plan will, per se, be an officer’s decision, not in principle but in detail as well?
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
15 June 2026
Social Housing Bill [HL]
My Lords, on Clause 6, I have a contrary view to that of the noble Lord, Lord Jamieson. I start by reminding the Committee that I have a registered interest as a councillor on Kirklees Council, which directly manages council housing in the borough.
The amendment in my name is related only to Clause…
Lords
Proceedings
11 June 2026
Sustainable Drainage Systems
My Lords, to continue from the previous question, large underground attenuation tanks are often used in residential developments as their answer to sustainable drainage. Can the Minister tell us what consideration has been given for the water that is stored in these tanks to be used as grey water fo…
Lords
Debate
1 June 2026
Social Housing Bill [HL]
Well, my Lords, that has started the debate on this important Bill in a rather polarised way. I have to say that I was a bit disappointed in the response from the noble Baroness, Lady Scott of Bybrook, who used some of the rhetoric of pointing fingers of blame at minorities, when we should be talkin…
Lords
Debate
14 April 2026
Grenfell Tower Memorial (Expenditure) Bill
My Lords, this has been an incredibly moving, thoughtful and serious debate. I begin by thanking noble Lords across the House. The contributions we have heard reflect the weight of Grenfell’s legacy for bereaved families, survivors, the local community and the country as a whole. I want to reflect o…
Lords
Debate
13 April 2026
8 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, this group of amendments neatly follows the previous group as it concerns further empowerment to be strengthened for the most local tier of our democracy. Amendment 195 in my name would ensure that Governments had a responsibility to maximise geographical coverage of town and parish counci…
My Lords, I thank the Minister for her response. I am pleased that we have had this debate on this group of amendments about parish and town councils, but I am very disappointed in her response. She cited the community governance review as an example of how more parish or town councils can be create…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
23 March 2026
Sussex and Brighton Combined County Authority Regulations 2026
I commend the Government on getting on with doing something on this agenda. I am a massive fan of mayoral authorities. If that is the price to pay to take power away from Whitehall and Westminster, it is a price worth paying. It could have been a bit cheaper, but nothing is cheap when you get it off…
Lords
Committee Stage
5 March 2026
4 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Banner, has returned to this issue, which was the subject of debate during the then Planning and Infrastructure Bill. Then, the amendment in his name concerned only the Wimbledon Park Community Trust. That amendment did not reach the statute book, so here we are again …
My Lords, I now have to remember where I left off.
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
3 March 2026
2 contributions
Rent Officers (Housing Benefit and Universal Credit Functions) (Modification) Order 2026
My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill, for opening this short debate. Let me say at the start that His Majesty’s Opposition support the principle behind the instrument before us. It reflects a careful exercise of the Government’s statutory powers. The order will ensure that local hous…
The 300,000 target is for both social and affordable housing. I would be very happy to share the noble Baroness’s views with my colleagues at MHCLG to make sure that they reflect on them, if that is okay with her, as that policy is probably above my pay grade.
On the question asked by the noble Vis…
Lords
Committee Stage
2 March 2026
2 contributions
Surrey (Structural Changes) Order 2026
My Lords, I thank the Minister for her explanation of this statutory instrument. I wish to make noble Lords aware of my interest as a councillor in Central Bedfordshire Council. I do not think it is an interest, but I am an ex-chairman of the Local Government Association.
There are a number of conc…
I certainly do not want to be seen to be condoning or commenting on that speculative debt, but we are where we find ourselves, and the important thing is that residents of Surrey must have sustainable councils going forward. It will not help them if the new structure that we create is equally as uns…
Lords
Committee Stage
10 February 2026
5 contributions
Cheshire and Warrington Combined Authority Order 2026
My Lords, there is a Division in the Chamber.
The Committee will adjourn for 10 minutes; we will then come back to the noble Baroness.
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
9 February 2026
5 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, this amendment was tabled by my noble friend Lord Goddard of Stockport, who is unfortunately not able to be here today. It seeks to insert a vital safeguard into Clause 45, ensuring that the specialised governance of our fire and rescue services is not diluted as the powers of regional may…
It was thee and me.
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
4 February 2026
3 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, it is really good to be able to take part in the debate on the devolution Bill, particularly to speak to Amendments 126 and 127 in my name. These amendments seek to explore the depth of the devolution that we have been promised in the Bill, which is, after all, called the English devolutio…
I will stand, as I am not speaking for long, and will sit if I need to, but I thank the noble Lord very much for his consideration.
For us on these Benches, devolution involves enabling governance at the lowest possible level to make the appropriate decisions. These two amendments in their differen…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
10 December 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I thank the Minister and the Government for accepting the substance of my noble friend Lord Lansley’s amendment —an important step that these Benches strongly support. We now look forward to scrutinising in full the regulations establishing a national scheme for the delegation of planning …
Lords
Proceedings
25 November 2025
Migration: Settlement Pathway
My Lords, I have a very simple and practical question for the Minister to end with. During his remarks about the Statement, he has said that gaining settled status would require a degree in English or an A-level in English. Can the Minister explain how that will be assessed? Will it be both written …
Lords
Debate
24 November 2025
2 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, before turning to the specifics of the amendments before us, I will restate what has guided our approach throughout the passage of the Bill. We recognise the legislation’s importance to the Government and their desire to see it completed in time for the Budget. From the outset, we on these…
My Lords, I rise to support very strongly Motion H1 in the name of the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Norwich. I have two concerns about the Government’s response. The first is the issue of protection. That is not present at the moment; it is severely lacking. I have visited chalk streams and …