Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill [HL]

My Lords, I support the main aim of Amendment 18, and will speak in particular to Amendments 19 a...

Perhaps I may ask the noble Lord to reflect on the clear problem that could arise, which is that ...

It is possible that the mayor would not get on with the deputy mayor, but what the amendments are...

My Lords, I want to support the view which has just been expressed by my noble friend Lord Shiple...

My Lords, I hope that the Government will in fact do exactly the opposite. That last speech expla...

My Lords, I hope that I am not misrepresenting the noble Lord, Lord Deben. I think that he said t...

My Lords, I would have sympathy with my noble friend Lord Grocott if the mayor were able to act i...

My Lords, the noble Lord is referring to Amendment 19 but what does he think about his own party’...

I would have more sympathy with that because of course that will be the colleagues from the execu...

My Lords, I will deal first with Amendments 18, 20, 21 and 22.

Amendment 18 would require t...

My Lords, maybe I should know this, and I do not, but what provision is there without going via t...

My Lords, the noble Baroness has answered the first part of that question herself because it is i...

But does the Minister agree that the leaders would have four-year terms unless their group decide...

My Lords, authorities which fail to fulfil the duty of best value go into statutory intervention....

I understand absolutely that it is a different ball game when corruption is involved, as with som...

I certainly can. With other mayoral systems—for example, the Mayor of London and mayors elsewhere...

Can the Minister enlighten me on one point and agree with me on a second? First, when it is said ...

I thank the noble Lord for that very useful intervention. First, he asked whether choosing a depu...

I am grateful to the noble Baroness. Am I right in understanding that it must be not simply an el...

The noble Lord is absolutely correct.

My Lords, I have a slight correction on this. In those cities with elected mayors—that is, Liverp...

The noble Lord is absolutely correct.

My Lords, we must take into account and deal with the important point raised by the noble Barones...

My Lords, Members of Parliament can be dismissed via the ballot box. If Members of Parliament beh...

The point I was making was that in the last Parliament new legislation enabled electors to get ri...

My Lords, there is not a process for local authority councillors to be recalled—or for local auth...

I will stop pushing on this point, but I have one last question that I am still not clear on. Tha...

My Lords, the noble Baroness makes a very interesting point. Other points have been made at lengt...

My Lords, I am not sure whether I am going to be helpful to the Minister, but would it be possibl...

My Lords, if that were to happen, the Secretary of State would have to disband the combined autho...

Perhaps the Minister would reflect and write on that point.

I would like to correct the comment that I have just made and come back to it in a future group, ...

That just illustrates the complexity of the matters that we are discussing. I refer to one matter...

The noble Lord is correct, in fact—it would usually be a local authority leader, but would not ne...

That comes back to the clarification that we asked for—and we are getting a little lost in it. Is...

That is a good question—particularly if there were no leaders in political sympathy with the mayo...

My Lords, the deputy mayor has to be a member of the combined authority, not just a councillor in...

So the shape and construction of combined authorities may vary, but there will be a distinct memb...

I just want to confirm that the noble Lord is correct.

Well, we have agreed on something. Whether there will be any more agreement before the afternoon ...

The noble Lord of course makes a very important point. One of our difficulties at the moment is t...

I am grateful to the noble Lord. He will be less grateful to me when I say that I am afraid I do ...

Would I not be right to say that the noble Lord is going to have at least part of the privilege o...

Much as I would like to be able to take decisions on behalf of the whole population of the north-...

Moved by

Lord Beecham

24: Clause 3, page 4, line 31, at end insert—

“( ) Where ...

My Lords, this is a probing amendment in relation to the controversial proposal under new Section...

My Lords, I agree with the concerns expressed by the noble Lord, Lord Beecham. I want to ask the ...

My Lords, Amendment 24 would insert a new provision within new Section 107E to require the Secret...

My Lords, I do not know whether the noble Baroness has answered the question put by the noble Lor...

I am quite happy to have the question answered later. We will be going on to another set of amend...

My Lords, as I indicated, we will not be pressing this matter at this stage. I therefore beg leav...

Moved by

Lord Beecham

27: Clause 3, page 4, line 42, at end insert “all”

My Lords, my noble friend Lord McKenzie is resting temporarily but will occupy centre stage short...

My Lords, a number of issues arise from this group of amendments. I look forward to the Minister’...

My Lords, I entirely agree with the noble Lord. I apologise for omitting reference to two amendme...

My Lords, I hesitate to disagree with my noble friend Lord Beecham, for whom I have enormous resp...

My Lords, it has to be about more than swapping the police and crime commissioner’s police car fo...

I wonder whether the noble Lord might withhold his comments. A very important issue is raised by ...

I am awfully sorry, my Lords. As I sat down, I squeezed my mobile phone and suddenly a voice was ...

My Lords, having listened to the debate so far on the various amendments, I am mightily glad that...

Not guilty.

It is always interesting to unravel these bits and pieces. We might test a few more policies on t...

My Lords, I support my noble friend Lord Grocott, who is absolutely right. Let me give an example...

My Lords, having not spoken on the Bill before, I must declare a few interests as a former presid...

My Lords, I had concluded, perhaps wrongly, that we would not see very many combined authority ma...

My Lords, I, too, start with an apology, having not answered the point of the noble Lord, Lord Sh...

If it is convenient, could the Minister indicate whether there is any intention to make arrangeme...

If the noble Lord will indulge me, I will get on to that a bit later.

Amendment 27 seeks to...

My Lords, perhaps I might pursue the Minister’s answer on the right of the general public to know...

My Lords, I can confirm that when people vote they will know what the mayor’s functions are.

My Lords, will the noble Baroness clear up one other point for me? She referred to the panel in n...

My Lords, I can confirm what the noble Lord says. I go back to a previous question that relates t...

My Lords, I begin by taking up the penultimate point that the noble Baroness made in relation to ...

Moved by

Baroness Wheatcroft

33: Clause 4, page 6, line 18, at end insert—

“( )...

My Lords, this is a broad enabling Bill. Amendment 33 is a narrow amendment, intended to enable m...

My Lords, I support my noble friend Lady Wheatcroft’s excellent amendment. If you go to America, ...

My Lords, I express support for the principle of the amendment moved by the noble Baroness, Lady ...

To answer the noble Lord, insurance is always available for anything—at a price, of course—and I ...

My Lords, I, too, welcome this amendment. As a former leader of Bristol City Council I tried to l...

My Lords, I support the amendment in the name of my noble friend Lady Wheatcroft and to which I a...

My Lords, I, too, support this amendment. I listened carefully to some of the ideas about what su...

My Lords, I have not so far participated in this Committee and apologise to the House for that. I...

In one sense, one very much welcomes the proposal of powers that we used to have rather more free...

On a similar point, what has been lacking in recent years with regard to capital funding and borr...

My Lords, before discussing Amendment 35, perhaps first I could speak briefly to Amendments 34 an...

My Lords, it is refreshing to hear innovative ideas coming from your Lordships’ House. I commend ...

My Lords, I thank the Minister for her detailed response, which was not entirely encouraging. I t...

Will the noble Baroness clarify whether we are talking about simply a positive mechanism to raise...

I gather from the Minister that the capacity to expand borrowing would not be there, so this woul...

From the noble Baroness’s response to the Minister’s point about borrowing capacity, I am still n...

There are clearly issues to be worked out. I am very flexible about this. It is the principle of ...

Moved by

Lord McKenzie of Luton

36ZA: Clause 6, page 8, line 2, after “property” inse...

My Lords, this is a small and narrow amendment. In fact, I contemplated whether I should move it ...

My Lords, Amendments 36ZA and 36ZB seek to amend the provisions in the Bill that relate to the pr...

I am grateful to the Minister for that explanation. As I explained, the technical wording was sim...

Moved by

The Earl of Listowel

36A: After Clause 6, insert the following new Clause—