My Lords, I rise to add to the political breadth of this debate and to offer Green support for the introduction of this amendment from the noble Lords, Lord Scriven and Lord Shipley. Localism is at the absolute heart of Green politics, but I think we have seen right across your Lordships’ Chamber a great desire for an end in England to the incredible concentration of power and resources in Westminster.
6 pm
It is noteworthy that the noble Lord, Lord Scriven, cited the Tory Mayor of the West Midlands. I will cite a 2020 report from the Local Government Association entitled Fiscal Devolution, and I should declare at this point that I am a vice-president of the Local Government Association. The foreword of that report, written by the then Conservative chair of the Local Government Association People and Places Board, says that greater fiscal freedom is “crucial” for “genuine devolution”. So that is another Conservative voice adding to the voices we have heard from around your Lordships’ Chamber.
To pick up the issue raised by the noble Lord, Lord Jackson, some of the comparisons made have been with federal states, which are quite different from England. The report, however, looks extensively at the Netherlands, which is much more comparable, and how its model of local tax-raising powers is used to meet local needs. It is worth thinking about: we do not want a race to the bottom—certainly the Greens do not—but we could see a race to the top. There is increasingly huge competition for human resources—for people—and to be a desirable, attractive, healthy place to live. We could see a real race to the top if local councils had the power to raise funds by themselves and use them according to their own preferences.
It is interesting that we are conducting this debate on the day of the Budget. About an hour ago, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities issued a press release entitled “Levelling up at heart of Budget”. It trumpets investment zones, in respect of which Westminster is to decide where the money will go; it trumpets levelling-up partnerships, in respect of which Westminster is to decide where the money will go. Westminster is very much keeping control of the purse strings. This is not any kind of devolution of power or resources. Those two things have to go together; otherwise, devolution is meaningless.