My Lords, I thank everyone who has spoken in the debate today, and I am particularly grateful to both Front Benches on this side for their support—and particular thanks
go to the noble Lord, Lord Blunkett, for having the courage to stand up and admit that he was wrong. For a brief moment, when the Minister started to say such warm and wonderful things about the town and parish council sector, my hopes started to rise—but they were sadly and very quickly dashed.
I am bitterly disappointed about the carer’s allowance. Having set their face against allowing virtual meetings, it feels particularly cruel for the Government not to allow town and parish councils to make a decision for themselves as to whether they would like to pay a dependant carer’s allowance. That feels to me quite petty and rather indicative of a mindset that says, “We want to try and devolve, but actually not really if you’re going to do something we don’t like”.
The governance review will be welcome if it takes place in the next year, but we have been waiting a long time for this. It was promised in the White Paper, and it is again disappointing that we will have to go through this process—and then, if there is legislation, they will have to find time for another Bill. It is such a pity that this opportunity was lost.
Finally, on being able to bid for grants, I gently remind the Minister that there are many large town councils that are significantly bigger than district councils, and they are getting grants while the towns are not. So the idea that there are too many of them and they are all too small really does not hold. With that, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.