Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill [HL]

My Lords, my name appears on both Amendments 1 and 2 and we give our full support to both. The am...

My Lords, I, too, support my noble friend’s amendment. This is a very welcome Bill and we are del...

My Lords, I declare my interest as president of the Local Government Association.

Noble Lor...

My Lords, I, too, support these amendments and very much echo the points made by the noble Lord i...

My Lords, I add my voice in support of this amendment. I declare an interest as a member of Cumbr...

My Lords, I, too, support the amendments, but for one additional reason: that a great deal of the...

My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have made points on these amendments. I think that we are s...

I hope that the noble Baroness will forgive me, but I think that she has slightly misunderstood m...

I thank the noble Baroness for her intervention. The process undergone by Greater Manchester, Nor...

My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have spoken in support of the two amendments before us, wit...

Moved by

Lord McKenzie of Luton

2: Before Clause 1, insert the following new Clause—<...

My Lords, I move this formally on the basis that it is accepted as consequential. If it is not, I...

The Question is that Amendment 2 be agreed to. As many as are of that opinion will say “Content”,...

There were clear voices saying “Not Content”. There should be a Division.

I beg your pardon, my Lords. I did not hear any “Not Content” voices. Let me put the Question aga...

Not Content.

Clear the Bar.

Moved by

Lord McKenzie of Luton

3: Clause 1, page 1, line 8, at end insert—

“( ...

My Lords, in moving Amendment 3, I shall speak also to Amendment 4 when I wind up, after we have ...

My Lords, there are two amendments in this group. I support Amendment 3, which was moved by the n...

My Lords, basically this is a decision about whether mayors should be compulsory or whether there...

I hope that the Minister will not accept what has just been said. We are looking at the history o...

I support my noble friend’s amendment. I was not expecting to speak on this but, if I may, I want...

I have listened to the noble Baroness with interest and I wonder whether she has not caught up wi...

Can the noble Lord explain what it is that is wrecking in Amendments 3 or 4?

The first point on Amendment 3 is that it removes the nature of the deal with government that the...

Forgive me for interrupting, but before the noble Lord sits down will he clarify something? A sta...

That is a very good question and rightly asked. Where the difficultly comes is that no one is imp...

My Lords, the noble Lord spoke with great passion and is very well informed. For my own part of t...

The noble Lord asks me for my personal opinion on that matter and I give him my answer: yes. I th...

My Lords, I support Amendments 3 and 4. I have listened with interest to what the noble Lords, Lo...

My Lords, I rise to speak in support of the amendment as one of the very few people in this House...

My Lords, I too rise to support Amendments 3 and 4, and to echo some of the comments that have al...

I worked with Bristol over a long period and it was one of the most difficult councils to deal wi...

Again, that is a rather selective rewriting of history. If you speak to the leaders of any of the...

My Lords, first, the Bill confers a discretion on the Secretary of State which is not restricted ...

My Lords, Amendment 3 would set out in the Bill that the introduction of a mayor for a combined a...

Is it not the case, however, that the election of the Mayor of London was preceded by a referendu...

That is correct. I am making a point not about referenda but about the profile and remit of the M...

If what the Minister says is accurate in practice—that any proposal from below, or however you wa...

I will address the noble Lord’s point shortly.

Amendment 4 would insert a new subsection in...

Is the Minister saying, therefore, that the factors in proposed paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) in Am...

My Lords, I am saying that it will be an agreement between the Secretary of State and local elect...

Combined authority areas.

I am sorry—combined authority areas. I apologise; this debate has gone on for a while.

I wi...

Does the Minister agree that, when you have this much power vested in one person, you also need a...

The noble Baroness’s question is the subject of later amendments. Certainly, the London model is ...

Before the Minister moves on, will she clarify what is included in “major powers”? What are major...

As noble Lords will see, an example of major powers is devolution for Greater Manchester. That is...

If, for example, my own area of Sheffield decides to go for this with a mayor and it is then not ...

My Lords, if a local area agreed a process with government and it was done through a parliamentar...

The Minister said two separate things. The first was that it was for local areas to come up with ...

My Lords, I do not and will not have a list. As I have said repeatedly, what powers are devolved ...

My Lords, this has been an extensive and good debate and the time moves on, so forgive me if I do...

I am sorry to interrupt—it is not my habit—but the present Bill simply gives a discretion to the ...

My Lords, we accept that there is a discretion but we know that that discretion will inevitably b...

Nothing that I have seen anywhere so far says that the Government can give powers under these pro...

The noble and learned Lord is right that there is a discretion in the Bill, but we know, alongsid...

Moved by

Baroness Williams of Trafford

5: Schedule 1, page 13, line 12, at end insert...

Amendment 5 sets a default term of office for an elected mayor of a combined authority area and a...

My Lords, I am grateful for a fair amount of what the Minister said. My Amendments 6 and 7 are, I...

My Lords, in intervening briefly, I make it clear that I am a passionate supporter of the whole m...

My Lords, we seem to be moving on to somewhat more consensual territory after the excitement of t...

My Lords, I will address some of the points made by the noble Lord, Lord Grocott, in the course o...

My Lords, does the noble Baroness recall the leader of a council not too far away from Manchester...

I do not think that we are thinking of the same person, but that is very interesting. I thank the...

Moved by

Baroness Williams of Trafford

8: Schedule 1, page 17, line 4, leave out “the...

Moved by

Lord Beecham

9: Clause 2, page 3, line 4, at end insert “with the consent of...

My Lords, Amendments 9, 11, 12 and 14 in this group relate to the functions of the elected mayor ...

My Lords, I will speak to Amendments 10 and 13 in this group. Broadly speaking, whereas the amend...

My Lords, these amendments are all about requiring members of the combined authority or overview ...

My Lords, I am most grateful to the Minister for accepting the principle of Amendment 11 and I lo...

Moved by

Lord Shipley

14A: Clause 3, page 5, line 29, at end insert—

“107F Disc...

My Lords, this amendment would require meetings and documents concerning the discharge of functio...

My Lords, I see reference in the amendments to public access to officials of the council. I am op...

Perhaps the noble Lord will comment on the fact that within local government now, officers of cou...

Unlike the noble Lord, I have never served in local government, so I cannot speak with his experi...

My Lords, I have some practical experience of this as a former council leader. When I became lead...

My Lords, we are fully committed to openness and transparency in the proceedings of local governm...

My Lords, my first intervention in proceedings on the Bill were when we were discussing the same ...

My Lords, not having worked in local government but having sat on boards that involved public mon...

My Lords, Amendment 14A seeks to ensure that the public have full and free access to combined aut...

Before the Minister sits down, can I just ask one question? Is it not the case that any advice th...

My Lords, there is an informal process for discussions and there is a formal process. If somethin...

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lords who have taken part in this debate, and in particular ...

Moved by

Lord McKenzie of Luton

15: Schedule 2, page 19, line 10, at end insert—

My Lords, the amendment requires that on page 19, line 10, we should insert:

“An order unde...

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord McKenzie, for being so brief in moving the amendment. As h...

My Lords, I am most grateful to the noble Baroness for that much longer explanation than mine in ...

Moved by

Baroness Williams of Trafford

16: Schedule 2, page 19, line 21, leave out “o...

My Lords, in moving Amendment 16 I will speak to the others in this group. Amendments 21 to 24 se...

My Lords, as we have heard, Amendments 21 to 24 require that there should be two components of a ...

Moved by

Baroness Williams of Trafford

17: Schedule 2, page 21, line 10, after “to” i...

Moved by

Baroness Williams of Trafford

19: Schedule 2, page 21, line 16, leave out “t...

My Lords, Amendments 19, 20 and 25 make minor and technical amendments to Clause 4 and Schedule 2...

Moved by

Baroness Williams of Trafford

20: Schedule 2, page 21, leave out lines 28 to...

Moved by

Baroness Williams of Trafford

21: Clause 4, page 6, line 8, at end insert—