UK Parliament / Open data

Localism Bill

Debate on bills on Monday, 17 January 2011, in the House of Commons, led by Lord Pickles. The answering member was Caroline Flint.

Localism Bill. Second reading debate. Amendment debated and negatived on division (228 to 332). Programme motion on proceedings in Committee, on Report, Third reading and any other proceedings. Agreed to on division (329 to 227). Queen's recommendation signified. Money resolution agreed to on division (316 to 211).

About these Parliamentary proceedings

Reference

521 c558-669

Session

2010-12

Proceeding contributions

Speaker | 521 c574 (Link to this contribution) As Members can detect, a considerable number of Members wish to attract the Chair's eye during this ...

Speaker | 521 c588 (Link to this contribution) Order. Despite the fact that I am reducing the time limit to five minutes plus two interventions at ...

Show all contributions (283)

Neil Carmichael | 521 c625 (Link to this contribution) I recognise the hon. Gentleman's focus on and work for sustainable development, but does he not acce...

Neil Carmichael | 521 c625 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Barry Gardiner | 521 c625 (Link to this contribution) Of course it is perfectly possible for individuals and local communities to consider sustainable dev...

Jack Lopresti | 521 c626-7 (Link to this contribution) One of the messages that I hear on the doorstep is that for my constituents one of the biggest failu...

Barry Gardiner | 521 c625-6 (Link to this contribution) I will not give way further, because time is short and other Members wish to contribute. The delays...

Speaker | 521 c627 (Link to this contribution) Thank you very much. You have corrected the record, and I sure that the House is grateful. That was ...

Oliver Colvile | 521 c627 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. When I intervened earlier, I should have declared an inte...

Gordon Marsden | 521 c627-8 (Link to this contribution) Members may be familiar with the old adage, ““If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.”” The hon. ...

Speaker | 521 c627 (Link to this contribution) Order. A lot of Members wish to speak. The time limit is at five minutes, but it would really help c...

Lord Sharma | 521 c629 (Link to this contribution) Indeed he did. Labour's clear message appeared to be that we cannot possibly trust local people to ...

John Howell | 521 c629 (Link to this contribution) He lost!

Lord Sharma | 521 c629 (Link to this contribution) Hon. Members on the Government side of the House campaigned vigorously for more localism in the year...

Stephen Gilbert | 521 c629 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that one thing missing from the Bill is the third party right of appeal, w...

Lord Sharma | 521 c629 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Under the previous Conservative Government between 1979 and 1996...

Baroness Morgan of Cotes | 521 c629 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that that top-down approach has not worked? There are fewer houses being b...

Kate Green | 521 c631 (Link to this contribution) Of course, I welcome the intention of the Bill—we are all in favour of more local autonomy—but I hav...

Lord Sharma | 521 c630-1 (Link to this contribution) No, I will not. Some of those who are opposed to localism will argue that the Bill will encourage n...

Neil Carmichael | 521 c629 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend give way?

Sheila Gilmore | 521 c631 (Link to this contribution) Does it not strike my hon. Friend as odd that a Government who have said that above all else they wa...

Oliver Colvile | 521 c632 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend recognise that urban conurbations do not have the same opportunities to engage a...

Sheryll Murray | 521 c632 (Link to this contribution) Power is when the buck stops with the individual. If we are to give our councillors a real say over ...

Mark Pawsey | 521 c635 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend give way?

George Hollingbery | 521 c634-5 (Link to this contribution) First, I pay tribute to the hon. Member for Sheffield South East (Mr Betts), the Chairman of the Sel...

Alison Seabeck | 521 c633 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady is quite rightly talking about the importance of referendums to local communities, but...

Sheryll Murray | 521 c632-3 (Link to this contribution) I take on board what my hon. Friend says, as, I am sure, will our right hon. Friend the Minister. W...

Sheila Gilmore | 521 c633-4 (Link to this contribution) Beware of Greeks bearing gifts—or perhaps it should be gifts of jars of pickles; I am not quite sure...

Sheryll Murray | 521 c633 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that my right hon. Friends on the Front Bench can ensure that, if a little thought is give...

Sheila Gilmore | 521 c610 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that that does not fit well with the Government's apparent concern about t...

Siobhain McDonagh | 521 c610-1 (Link to this contribution) I completely agree with my hon. Friend and I wonder whether we are seeing joined-up government. What...

Henry Smith | 521 c611 (Link to this contribution) In my maiden speech last May I spoke about the important principle that where services are delivered...

James Morris | 521 c611 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that the general power of competence in the Bill, which has been much deri...

Tristram Hunt | 521 c611 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way and for showing such respect to the Chamber, unli...

Pat Glass | 521 c613 (Link to this contribution) Having been a parish councillor until a few weeks ago, I welcome those parts of the Bill that seek t...

Henry Smith | 521 c612 (Link to this contribution) We are about to do just that in the Bill. The Government have not waited for legislation and have al...

Pat Glass | 521 c613 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady has obviously read my mind. The leader of Durham county council has told me that, had ...

Pat Glass | 521 c614-5 (Link to this contribution) Yes, I agree. The Association of North East Local Councils has issued figures that show clearly that...

Lord Jackson of Peterborough | 521 c615 (Link to this contribution) There speaks the authentic dinosaur aspect of the Labour party—class war. The view of the hon. Membe...

Baroness Keeley | 521 c613-4 (Link to this contribution) In answer to the point about Labour's policy, one of the key points is that we would not have front-...

Alan Whitehead | 521 c616 (Link to this contribution) In his exposition of the overall coherence of the Bill, is the hon. Gentleman in favour of stripping...

Lord Jackson of Peterborough | 521 c616 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes a fair point. The TaxPayers' Alliance, in its publication in March 2010 ent...

Hazel Blears | 521 c615 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman support limiting the expressions of interest to be made by communities to ru...

Lord Jackson of Peterborough | 521 c615-6 (Link to this contribution) The big society is about empowering local people to make decisions at local level. It should be seen...

Jeremy Corbyn | 521 c617 (Link to this contribution) To describe the Bill as one of the great historical Bills put before the House is to take historical...

Lord Jackson of Peterborough | 521 c616-7 (Link to this contribution) I do not have time to give way, if the hon. Gentleman will forgive me. The Bill is coherent, althou...

Tristram Hunt | 521 c616 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Fiona Bruce | 521 c619-20 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the Bill as a catalyst to support, release and empower the vibrant and often untapped reso...

Kate Green | 521 c620 (Link to this contribution) I am sure the hon. Lady is right that many excellent local community groups would like to fulfil a g...

Fiona Bruce | 521 c620 (Link to this contribution) I have confidence in my local authority's ability to make discerning decisions about the services re...

David Rutley | 521 c620 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes an important point, and I know that she is very involved with the Crossroads Ca...

Hazel Blears | 521 c617 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a good point about the possible inequity of services in different parts of the ...

Jeremy Corbyn | 521 c617-8 (Link to this contribution) That is an effect of localism. That is why national standards, particularly in areas such as social ...

Henry Smith | 521 c618 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman concede that in the past 13 years we have seen the lowest amount of housing ...

Jeremy Corbyn | 521 c618-9 (Link to this contribution) I understand what the hon. Gentleman says. He was not in the previous Parliament. I was one of those...

Speaker | 521 c621 (Link to this contribution) Order. Time is up, I am afraid.

Fiona Bruce | 521 c620-1 (Link to this contribution) I so agree. The Bill provides mechanisms for greater partnership working and that, in turn, will hel...

Andrea Leadsom | 521 c623-4 (Link to this contribution) Yes, I was coming to precisely that point. In the Bill, onshore wind farms of less than 50 MW capaci...

Barry Gardiner | 521 c624 (Link to this contribution) The Bill draws two important aspirations of the Government into conflict. The Government have said t...

Andrea Leadsom | 521 c623 (Link to this contribution) The lovely English countryside of my home county of Northamptonshire was the scene of many battles d...

Alison Seabeck | 521 c623 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Lady aware that all wind farms of more than 50 MW will be exempt from the local consider...

Barry Gardiner | 521 c622 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that in order to resolve that issue it is important that the Bill should h...

Alan Whitehead | 521 c622-3 (Link to this contribution) Indeed, I completely agree. There should be such a presumption in the Bill and there should be consi...

David Ward | 521 c622 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that it is possible that those on both sides of the House are right an...

Alan Whitehead | 521 c622 (Link to this contribution) I do agree with that difference. Also, however, if the agency is not there in order to make those ch...

Alan Whitehead | 521 c621-2 (Link to this contribution) When the Secretary of State introduced the Second Reading of this illuminatingly entitled Bill, I wa...

Alan Whitehead | 521 c624-5 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend accept that the cumulative impact of the proposals on sustainability must inevit...

Baroness Morgan of Cotes | 521 c642 (Link to this contribution) Absolutely, particularly in relation to my constituency, which includes a large town, a smaller town...

Simon Hart | 521 c642-3 (Link to this contribution) May I report the loud cheer from far-flung corners of Britain that accompanied the announcement of t...

Alison Seabeck | 521 c640 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Eric Ollerenshaw | 521 c641 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Lady let me finish, so that we can get on with things? The amendment says that if the ...

Baroness Morgan of Cotes | 521 c641-2 (Link to this contribution) This is an important debate on an important Bill, which will change the relationship between central...

Anne Marie Morris | 521 c642 (Link to this contribution) I note with interest my hon. Friend's comments about the business community. Does she agree that we ...

Eric Ollerenshaw | 521 c639-40 (Link to this contribution) As others have, I shall declare my interest, which is in the book: I have reached the dizzy heights ...

Iain Stewart | 521 c639 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted to endorse that point, because I was going to mention the urban areas, as well as tow...

Eric Ollerenshaw | 521 c640 (Link to this contribution) As is the power for local councillors and ratepayers to see the decisions that they want carried out...

Mark Pawsey | 521 c640 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that that is a case of a business approach to the occupation of land and t...

Anne Marie Morris | 521 c639 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted to hear my hon. Friend's comments about parish councils. In respect of some of the ur...

Toby Perkins | 521 c637-8 (Link to this contribution) I am afraid that I am going to carry on now. During the final sitting of the Communities and Local ...

Toby Perkins | 521 c637 (Link to this contribution) I certainly accept a comment made by Campbell Robb, Shelter's chief executive, who said:"““It is unb...

Mark Pawsey | 521 c637 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Toby Perkins | 521 c637 (Link to this contribution) Briefly.

Brandon Lewis | 521 c637 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way so graciously, but, notwithstanding his comments about soc...

Toby Perkins | 521 c637 (Link to this contribution) I have already taken a couple of interventions, and I know that a number of other Members wish to co...

Brandon Lewis | 521 c637 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Greg Clark | 521 c654 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman is under any illusion that this is not a Bill that transfers power to people, ...

Bob Russell | 521 c654 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend agree that passing power down from the centre includes passing powers from...

Greg Clark | 521 c654-5 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The process we are engaged in gives a lot of power to local auth...

Hazel Blears | 521 c655 (Link to this contribution) Will the Minister take this opportunity to give an unequivocal confirmation that, as far as the expr...

Baroness Keeley | 521 c649-50 (Link to this contribution) We have had a lively debate, with some 40 speakers. There is a clear division between the Government...

Baroness Keeley | 521 c650-3 (Link to this contribution) There is not time, I am afraid. The Secretary of State told council leaders that they were in charg...

Andy Slaughter | 521 c650 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend give way?

Toby Perkins | 521 c654 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman is telling us about how many powers the Secretary of State is giving away, ...

Greg Clark | 521 c653-4 (Link to this contribution) You would not know it, Mr Deputy Speaker, but this is an historic day for the House. Opposition Memb...

Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park | 521 c647 (Link to this contribution) There is much to welcome in the Bill, which at its heart has a belief that no one is better placed t...

Nick Raynsford | 521 c648 (Link to this contribution) As a Member who also represents a constituency with a royal park, may I put it to the hon. Gentleman...

Baroness Bray of Coln | 521 c644-6 (Link to this contribution) Broadly, I very much welcome the Bill, which will tackle the bureaucratic burden, raise local accoun...

Peter Aldous | 521 c646-7 (Link to this contribution) At the outset I should state that before coming to this place I worked for 27 years as a chartered s...

Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park | 521 c648 (Link to this contribution) I profoundly disagree. It makes perfect sense that whoever is responsible for the parks is accountab...

Mel Stride | 521 c643 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend has, like me, a very rural constituency. Does he agree that it is vital that the Bill...

Simon Hart | 521 c644 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a good point. If there is one thing that drives those of us on the Government B...

Speaker | 521 c643 (Link to this contribution) Order. Before the hon. Gentleman answers, may I remind the hon. Lady that she is not supposed to hav...

Anne Marie Morris | 521 c643 (Link to this contribution) I absolutely endorse what my hon. Friend is saying. Does he share my concern that we must ensure tha...

Simon Hart | 521 c643 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a good point. Those Members who were lucky enough to attend a recent Westminste...

Toby Perkins | 521 c636 (Link to this contribution) It seems almost an exaggeration to call the Localism Bill a Bill. It is really 400 pages of the Secr...

George Hollingbery | 521 c635-6 (Link to this contribution) No, I am not taking any interventions. Finally, let me end with a few remarks on neighbourhood plan...

Toby Perkins | 521 c636 (Link to this contribution) I do not know why you were the recipient of that attack, Madam Deputy Speaker, but, assuming that th...

Neil Carmichael | 521 c636 (Link to this contribution) I should be fascinated to learn why Labour Members simply do not trust local people. In France and H...

Toby Perkins | 521 c636 (Link to this contribution) I will.

Sheila Gilmore | 521 c636 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend give way?

Toby Perkins | 521 c636-7 (Link to this contribution) Absolutely, but that is by no means the most ridiculous suggestion that we have heard today. Accordi...

Sheila Gilmore | 521 c636 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that it is ridiculous to suggest that transferring the cost of new housing...

George Hollingbery | 521 c635 (Link to this contribution) I do not think I shall, as I have been asked to be extremely rapid. Tenure reform was essential, an...

Greg Clark | 521 c655 (Link to this contribution) The Bill was drafted deliberately to express that. This is a community right to challenge to allow c...

Greg Clark | 521 c655-6 (Link to this contribution) There is no time, I am afraid. Let me address the argument, which was depressingly common on the Op...

Simon Hughes | 521 c559 (Link to this contribution) As a London Member of Parliament, I welcome the part of the Bill that delegates considerable extra p...

Lord Pickles | 521 c559 (Link to this contribution) I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman was distracted by something in the Chamber more interesting...

Toby Perkins | 521 c559 (Link to this contribution) If this is all about giving away powers from Whitehall, why does the Bill transfer 126 new powers to...

Lord Pickles | 521 c559 (Link to this contribution) I have to say that I have great affection for Lord Prescott, and I am particularly enjoying his curr...

Paul Beresford | 521 c558 (Link to this contribution) I hope that my right hon. Friend does not miss the opportunity to mention the great pilot of central...

Lord Pickles | 521 c558 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. I am glad to see the right hon. Member for ...

Speaker | 521 c558 (Link to this contribution) I have selected the amendment in the name of the Leader of the Opposition.

Lord Pickles | 521 c560 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a very moderate and reasonable point. I have suggested to chief executives that...

Bob Russell | 521 c560 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for his generous comments about local councillors. I am sure t...

Lord Pickles | 521 c560 (Link to this contribution) Of course refuse collection is a matter for local people. We have ended Labour's bin taxes, and ther...

Edward Leigh | 521 c560 (Link to this contribution) Within the ethos and context of localism, how are we going to deal with the scandal of 129 local gov...

Lord Pickles | 521 c560-1 (Link to this contribution) The cabinet system has many advantages, but it means that a number of councillors are denied the opp...

Chris Leslie | 521 c561 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State advocated the power of general competence as a means of increasing the freedo...

Lord Pickles | 521 c559 (Link to this contribution) Of course I give way to the distinguished gentleman.

Nick Raynsford | 521 c559 (Link to this contribution) As I understand it, the Secretary of State's chief argument in favour of the Bill is that local peop...

Lord Pickles | 521 c559 (Link to this contribution) I wish that my right hon. Friend had not used the R-word, but it is certainly my intention that this...

Nick Raynsford | 521 c559 (Link to this contribution) Will the Secretary of State give way?

Bob Ainsworth | 521 c562 (Link to this contribution) Will the Secretary of State share with the House his thinking and motives in providing for the impos...

Lord Pickles | 521 c562 (Link to this contribution) The idea is basically to get ready for the mayors. I want to make it absolutely clear that if the pe...

Barry Sheerman | 521 c563 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman knows my town of Huddersfield very well. Since the election, local communit...

Lord Pickles | 521 c563 (Link to this contribution) Voluntary groups in Huddersfield, which I know and love very well, are very keen on those powers. Th...

Charlie Elphicke | 521 c563 (Link to this contribution) This is a truly radical Bill from a truly radical Secretary of State. It brings closer to reality th...

Lord Pickles | 521 c561 (Link to this contribution) I am surprised by the hon. Gentleman's statement, because he and I have previous. When he was engage...

Hazel Blears | 521 c561 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State said that the current power to do anything that is in the interests of econom...

Lord Pickles | 521 c561-2 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Lady makes a reasonable point. She will be aware of problems with London authorities'...

Bob Ainsworth | 521 c562 (Link to this contribution) Will the Secretary of State give way?

Lord Pickles | 521 c562 (Link to this contribution) Of course I give way to another distinguished former Cabinet Minister.

Simon Hughes | 521 c566 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Lady produced some wry smiles when she said how strongly Labour had been in favour of...

Caroline Flint | 521 c566 (Link to this contribution) I think that what we can see is a steady devolution to local government. I can see—[Interruption.] I...

Lord Pickles | 521 c564-5 (Link to this contribution) The Treasury rules prevent it. I know that Hammersmith and Fulham council has received a lot of prai...

Caroline Flint | 521 c565-6 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move an amendment, to leave out from ““That”” to the end of the Question and add:"““this Ho...

Lord Pickles | 521 c564 (Link to this contribution) I am happy to reassure the right hon. Gentleman that there will be no gap in the system, and that th...

Aidan Burley | 521 c564 (Link to this contribution) One of the scandals of recent years is that councils have been allowed to run up astronomical debts....

Lord Pickles | 521 c563 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend tempts me to become a bit Maoist in these matters, but we will certainly consider wha...

Lord Blunkett | 521 c563-4 (Link to this contribution) There is a genuine worry among the infrastructure industries, particularly the utilities, about the ...

Andrew Bridgen | 521 c566 (Link to this contribution) Has the right hon. Lady noted that Moody's, the credit rating agency, stated last week that it is on...

Caroline Flint | 521 c566 (Link to this contribution) I will give way again in a little while. Let us look at Islington council, of which Labour took con...

Caroline Flint | 521 c567 (Link to this contribution) I will give way in a little while, but I want to make some progress. Perhaps we should not be surpr...

Caroline Flint | 521 c567 (Link to this contribution) I will give way shortly, but I want to finish this point, because the Secretary of State has made mu...

Christopher Pincher | 521 c567-8 (Link to this contribution) I am obliged to the right hon. Lady for giving way; we are obviously getting on better now. She talk...

Caroline Flint | 521 c568 (Link to this contribution) In some cases, there was an argument for some ring-fencing, and I am not going to step away from tha...

Toby Perkins | 521 c568 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend is being very generous in taking interventions, and I thank her for taking one ...

Caroline Flint | 521 c568 (Link to this contribution) I do not think that the many councils that have had their area-based grants removed are singing from...

Clive Betts | 521 c578 (Link to this contribution) Ultimately, the test will be whether the policy works. My question is this: if the policy does not w...

Toby Perkins | 521 c578 (Link to this contribution) It was a tremendous privilege to be a member of the Select Committee alongside my hon. Friend for a ...

Lord Barwell | 521 c578 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Paul Beresford | 521 c575-6 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for that reinforcement. The Bill reverses that and proposes the removal of f...

Clive Betts | 521 c576-7 (Link to this contribution) It is always a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Mole Valley (Sir Paul Beresford). He and I had...

Baroness Bray of Coln | 521 c577 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman also welcome the abolition of the Standards Board for England? Under that dr...

Clive Betts | 521 c577-8 (Link to this contribution) There was a problem with the initial design of the board, but it was subsequently reformed and now w...

Anne Main | 521 c575 (Link to this contribution) I served on the same Committee, and my recollection is exactly the same as my hon. Friend's. The Min...

Simon Hughes | 521 c581-2 (Link to this contribution) No, I will not, only because we have so many constraints on time—understandably. It is important th...

Daniel Byles | 521 c581 (Link to this contribution) Will my right hon. Friend give way?

Douglas Carswell | 521 c580 (Link to this contribution) I do not wish to intrude on that celebration of the Bill's sound localist credentials, but might the...

Simon Hughes | 521 c581 (Link to this contribution) I of course support my party's position, which we will say something further about this year, but, h...

Douglas Carswell | 521 c580 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

Simon Hughes | 521 c580 (Link to this contribution) One more time, then I will press on to the end.

Nick Raynsford | 521 c579-80 (Link to this contribution) It is an interesting principle that the right hon. Gentleman has enunciated. Can he tell the House w...

Simon Hughes | 521 c580 (Link to this contribution) Tempting, but completely irrelevant to the Bill. I will talk to the right hon. Gentleman about that ...

Clive Betts | 521 c578-9 (Link to this contribution) I will not give way again, because many other Members wish to speak. As for local democracy and dec...

Simon Hughes | 521 c579 (Link to this contribution) This debate is extremely important. For those of us who stood on an election manifesto of more power...

Hazel Blears | 521 c569 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State purports to say that the planning system will be simpler and more open to loc...

Caroline Flint | 521 c569 (Link to this contribution) We welcome the principle of greater involvement for local people in how their communities are develo...

Caroline Flint | 521 c570 (Link to this contribution) I give way to the hon. Member for Great Yarmouth (Brandon Lewis), who has been trying to intervene f...

Caroline Flint | 521 c569-70 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend echoes the point made earlier in Communities and Local Government questions. Pl...

Brandon Lewis | 521 c570 (Link to this contribution) I thank the right hon. Lady. As a councillor from 1998 to 2009, I watched councillors and residents ...

Caroline Flint | 521 c568 (Link to this contribution) I give way to the hon. Lady.

Baroness Morgan of Cotes | 521 c568 (Link to this contribution) Following the question put by her hon. Friend the Member for Chesterfield (Toby Perkins), does the r...

Caroline Flint | 521 c568-9 (Link to this contribution) The record will show that for many years under the Labour Government it was Conservative councils, n...

Lord Blunkett | 521 c569 (Link to this contribution) Could we not sum it up very simply by saying that the Government are centralising the power and dece...

Caroline Flint | 521 c569 (Link to this contribution) Yes. Despite the best efforts of the Secretary of State and his Ministers to transfer powers from t...

Caroline Flint | 521 c573-4 (Link to this contribution) My worry was about single men and women without dependants who were not in work, who had not receive...

Lord Jackson of Peterborough | 521 c573 (Link to this contribution) I fear the right hon. Lady is overegging the pudding, given that she must surely acknowledge that in...

Caroline Flint | 521 c572-3 (Link to this contribution) Supply is important on all counts: supply in social housing, supply in rented housing, and, indeed, ...

Jeremy Corbyn | 521 c572 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend share my concerns about passing to local government the responsibility to ...

Caroline Flint | 521 c570 (Link to this contribution) I will make a little more progress, and then I will take a few more interventions. The record will p...

Henry Smith | 521 c571 (Link to this contribution) Does the right hon. Lady think it better for planning decisions to be made by unaccountable regional...

Caroline Flint | 521 c571-2 (Link to this contribution) I do not think that the answer should be more powers for the Secretary of State, for a start. What ...

Andrew Percy | 521 c570-1 (Link to this contribution) May I return the right hon. Lady to the issue of neighbourhood development plans? As she will know, ...

Caroline Flint | 521 c571 (Link to this contribution) With respect to the hon. Gentleman, I was not referring to parish plans. I have met representatives ...

Jonathan Edwards | 521 c595-6 (Link to this contribution) The Localism Bill has received a great deal of attention in England because of its supposedly radica...

Stuart Andrew | 521 c594 (Link to this contribution) We will have the number of houses that we can cope with. In Leeds, we recognised that certain areas ...

David Burrowes | 521 c596 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for this opportunity to speak in this important debate, having had to leave it earlier...

Alec Shelbrooke | 521 c594 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that the previous Government's push to allow greenfield sites to be used f...

Stuart Andrew | 521 c593-4 (Link to this contribution) I completely agree with my hon. Friend. Communities in his constituency and mine have faced these pr...

Toby Perkins | 521 c594 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman believe that fewer houses will be built in his constituency as a result of t...

Stuart Andrew | 521 c594 (Link to this contribution) That is an incredibly valid point. I shall say more in a moment about the problems experienced by th...

Shabana Mahmood | 521 c591-2 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my hon. Friend entirely, and I was just coming to that point. I fear that it is the cu...

Greg Mulholland | 521 c593 (Link to this contribution) I concur with the thoughts of my hon. Friend and Leeds colleague. Does he agree that it is extremely...

Stuart Andrew | 521 c592-3 (Link to this contribution) I am pleased to be able to speak in the debate, although I have been somewhat taken aback by some of...

Baroness Keeley | 521 c600 (Link to this contribution) I believe that the Bill contains the first indication of cuts in Sure Start, which we expected despi...

Andy Slaughter | 521 c600 (Link to this contribution) I agree entirely with my hon. Friend. I hope that Government Members have read the comments of Shelt...

Jeremy Corbyn | 521 c599 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend's constituency and mine have similar characteristics. For instance, 30% of members of...

Andy Slaughter | 521 c598-9 (Link to this contribution) I fear that the Bill is a hotch-potch of unco-ordinated policies, as Labour Front Benchers have said...

David Burrowes | 521 c597-8 (Link to this contribution) No, I will not give way. The right hon. Lady had her opportunity in government, so I will continue. ...

David Burrowes | 521 c597 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for that intervention. It is important to get the message across that this Bill is abo...

David Burrowes | 521 c596-7 (Link to this contribution) I took part in Committee proceedings on the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill—a...

Baroness Keeley | 521 c596 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is talking about the stance that Opposition Members will take, so would he like t...

Joan Walley | 521 c587 (Link to this contribution) Citizenship is absolutely about encouraging people to take responsibility for their lives and traini...

Nick Raynsford | 521 c583-5 (Link to this contribution) As the hon. Gentleman will realise if he reflects on this, there is a continuum that makes it diffic...

Douglas Carswell | 521 c583 (Link to this contribution) Does the right hon. Gentleman draw a distinction between someone expressing an opinion on what an ou...

Nick Raynsford | 521 c585 (Link to this contribution) I have only 10 seconds, as the right hon. Gentleman knows. I have time to say only that the Bill is ...

Grant Shapps | 521 c585 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

Rory Stewart | 521 c585-7 (Link to this contribution) This debate is an example of why changes such as those in the Bill are so difficult. All the argumen...

Speaker | 521 c585 (Link to this contribution) Order. I call Rory Stewart.

George Freeman | 521 c587 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady mentions citizenship? What is citizenship if it is not encouraging people to take resp...

Nick Raynsford | 521 c582-3 (Link to this contribution) I start by drawing attention to my interests as declared in the register. I endorse the view expres...

John Stevenson | 521 c589-90 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right; it is a demonstration of localism. Indeed, I was lobbied about t...

Rory Stewart | 521 c589 (Link to this contribution) As a fellow Cumbrian Member of Parliament, will my hon. Friend please join us in supporting the comm...

John Stevenson | 521 c589 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in this extremely important debate. The Bill is undoubted...

Toby Perkins | 521 c591 (Link to this contribution) On the basis of what the hon. Member for Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport (Oliver Colvile) has just sa...

Shabana Mahmood | 521 c591 (Link to this contribution) I am afraid that that is a rather poor attempt at hiding the deep unfairness of the settlement impos...

Oliver Colvile | 521 c591 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Lady not recall that it was the former Chief Secretary to the Treasury, in the previou...

Shabana Mahmood | 521 c590-1 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the opportunity to make a contribution to the debate. I would like to focus on thr...

Joan Walley | 521 c588 (Link to this contribution) It was a regional spatial strategy that could have safeguarded the regeneration that Stoke-on-Trent ...

Daniel Byles | 521 c587 (Link to this contribution) It was a regional spatial strategy that forced building on to green belt land in my constituency by ...

Andy Slaughter | 521 c600 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for that intervention, because it has given me a little more time to amplify the point...

Greg Mulholland | 521 c601 (Link to this contribution) I should be delighted.

Hazel Blears | 521 c601 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has a good record of promoting community pubs. Does he support the Government's d...

Greg Mulholland | 521 c600-1 (Link to this contribution) Let me begin by saying that, given the state in which the Labour party left the country, it is prepo...

Hazel Blears | 521 c601 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Greg Mulholland | 521 c601-2 (Link to this contribution) Indeed. I thank my hon. Friend for raising the issue, which I was about to mention myself. As he has...

David Lammy | 521 c602-3 (Link to this contribution) I want to give the Government the benefit of the doubt and welcome the thrust towards localism in th...

Greg Mulholland | 521 c601 (Link to this contribution) I would support any measure that helped pubs, but, as the right hon. Lady knows full well, that was ...

Jesse Norman | 521 c601 (Link to this contribution) I agree. In Hereford we have seen a perfect example of the abuse of the current system. Last year th...

David Burrowes | 521 c603 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

David Rutley | 521 c608 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Lady give way?

Hazel Blears | 521 c607-8 (Link to this contribution) I will not give way. I set out three tests last October, saying that if the Government met them, th...

Kris Hopkins | 521 c608 (Link to this contribution) As a former leader of the council—and obviously a councillor—of the great city of Bradford, I welcom...

Hazel Blears | 521 c608 (Link to this contribution) No, I will not. Time is short. When those enterprises are spun out into the social enterprise secto...

Tristram Hunt | 521 c609 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Kris Hopkins | 521 c609 (Link to this contribution) No, I will not. The shadow Secretary of State said earlier that she was concerned that the Secretary...

Siobhain McDonagh | 521 c609-10 (Link to this contribution) There have been a large number of philosophical speeches from hon. Members on both sides of the Hous...

Barry Gardiner | 521 c610 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend has been assiduously in the Chamber all afternoon, so she might not have seen the fro...

Siobhain McDonagh | 521 c610 (Link to this contribution) That would be a shocking spectacle and I cannot imagine that any person in this House would find it ...

Hazel Blears | 521 c606 (Link to this contribution) We could be forgiven for thinking that the Government have, all on their own, discovered community e...

Martin Vickers | 521 c605-6 (Link to this contribution) I accept the point that my hon. Friend makes. Elected mayors are another advocate for the area that ...

George Freeman | 521 c605 (Link to this contribution) On kindling community interest in local planning matters, does my hon. Friend agree that the Bill an...

Martin Vickers | 521 c604-5 (Link to this contribution) Personally, I would always support the decision of a referendum over an imposition. Why only 12 may...

Alan Whitehead | 521 c606-7 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend agree that an additional element in a community takeover of assets is its ...

Hazel Blears | 521 c607 (Link to this contribution) Not by any stretch of the imagination could this Bill genuinely be said to be about empowerment. If ...

Barry Gardiner | 521 c606 (Link to this contribution) Surely my right hon. Friend is not going to miss off that long list antisocial behaviour orders, whi...

David Rutley | 521 c607 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Lady give way?

Hazel Blears | 521 c607 (Link to this contribution) In a moment. We are setting out for the worst of all possible worlds. We will raise expectations an...

David Lammy | 521 c603 (Link to this contribution) I will not give way, because time is limited. Two issues remain deeply relevant to my constituency,...

David Lammy | 521 c603 (Link to this contribution) I hope the community will be able to determine these things, and stand up to the betting industry, w...

David Lammy | 521 c603-4 (Link to this contribution) It is clear from clause 97 that there are excessive charges in bringing in a neighbourhood plan. How...

Martin Vickers | 521 c604 (Link to this contribution) I must first declare an interest: I remain, until May, an elected member of North East Lincolnshire ...

Stephen Gilbert | 521 c603 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

David Lammy | 521 c603 (Link to this contribution) That is wrong and it needs to stop, but I am very concerned that it is clear in the Bill that—

Stephen Gilbert | 521 c603 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

Speaker | 521 c603 (Link to this contribution) Order. If the right hon. Gentleman is not giving way, the hon. Gentleman cannot stay on his feet and...

Lord Sharma | 521 c629 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes an interesting point, and I am sure that the Minister will take it up when he r...

Baroness Morgan of Cotes | 521 c613 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps the hon. Lady can help me with a little point I am confused about. The leader of her party s...

Iain Stewart | 521 c638-9 (Link to this contribution) I warmly welcome the Bill, and I should declare an interest: I am an elected parish councillor in Sh...

Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford | 521 c648-9 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to have the opportunity—just—to speak in this debate. I welcome the intention behind ...

Caroline Flint | 521 c567 (Link to this contribution) I do not sign up to the view that somehow the country was on the brink of bankruptcy. That is absolu...

Paul Beresford | 521 c574-5 (Link to this contribution) I shall heed your words, Mr Deputy Speaker. I must tell the Secretary of State that I really welcom...

Caroline Flint | 521 c570 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that, as a former councillor, the hon. Gentleman agrees that different communities have di...

Baroness Bray of Coln | 521 c597 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that the most welcome provisions of the Bill include not only the restorin...

Barry Gardiner | 521 c625 (Link to this contribution) That is exactly what I propose. My hon. Friend the Member for Islington North made a powerful point...

Kate Green | 521 c631-2 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes my next point: there is a complete lack of logic in people who better their cir...

Henry Smith | 521 c611 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend hits the nail on the head. That is precisely what the Bill does and that is why the r...

Brandon Lewis | 521 c637 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Christopher Pincher | 521 c567 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Lady give way?

Joan Walley | 521 c587 (Link to this contribution) I absolutely agree with the hon. Member for Penrith and The Border (Rory Stewart) that we want peopl...

Hazel Blears | 521 c606 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that intervention. Not for a moment would I seek to miss out som...

Baroness Keeley | 521 c604 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman comment on the fact that mayors are going to be imposed? Indeed, another pow...