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 …
Lords
Oral Questions
24 November 2025
Fair Funding Review
I do not agree with the presumption in the question from the noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock. For too long, an outdated council funding system, based on decades-old data, has entrenched the inequality of which she speaks—we all know that—with those least able to raise council tax and business rates giv…
Lords
Committee Stage
18 November 2025
2 contributions
Infrastructure Planning (Business or Commercial Projects) (Amendment) Regulations
My Lords, as the noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock, said, there is a certain amount of logic in adding data centres to the list of projects that may be taken through the nationally significant infrastructure regime. We agree with the Minister that having sufficient data centre capacity will be absolutely…
The emerging nature of some of the technology involved here will enable even greater sharing of the heat and energy that comes from data centres. As I said, we are engaging with operators and will consider what further interventions may be necessary in future. At the moment, we are trying to encoura…
Lords
Debate
3 November 2025
7 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, Amendments 208 and 231A, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Roborough, and other noble Lords, seek to remove Clause 90 and Schedule 6 from the Bill. These Benches are not supportive of these amendments. While we appreciate the arguments that have been made about streamlining and simplifying th…
My Lords, on these Benches we have much sympathy with the core principle behind this amendment from the noble Lord, Lord Lansley, regarding mayoral development corporations. The purpose of Part 4 of this Bill is to create a more flexible, and perhaps more robust, framework for development corporatio…
+5 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
3 November 2025
London Boroughs: Financial Support
I hope the work we have done so far will illustrate to the noble Baroness and other noble Lords that we are committed to improving how we assess need to make sure that central government funding is distributed fairly to the places that need it the most. Our proposals use the best available evidence …
Lords
Statutory Instrument
30 October 2025
4 contributions
Town and Country Planning (Crown Development Applications) (Procedure and Written Representations) Order 2025
My Lords, I tabled a regret Motion on this statutory instrument well before the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, now making its way through your Lordships’ House, had even had its Second Reading. Many of the issues I am still concerned with in this order have been debated during the progress of the…
My Lords, I declare my interest as a councillor in central Bedfordshire. We on this side of the House believe in local democracy. It is why I proposed an amendment to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill that would ensure local democracy where there are valid planning grounds, and why I was pleased …
+2 more contributions in this session