King’s Speech

Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville Excerpts

Thursday 18th July 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (LD)]

My Lords, I congratulate the Government on their superb election results, which were expected. The Lib Dems also had election success that exceeded our predictions and expectations. I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, and the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman of Ullock, on their promotions. I look forward to working with them in the future.

The gracious Speech set out the Government’s parliamentary agenda for this Session, and it is going to be a busy but interesting time, as my noble friend Lady Miller of Chilthorne Domer has mentioned. There is much to welcome in the proposed Bills that will be brought forward, and we have had many fascinating contributions today. My noble friends Lord Shipley, Lady Miller and Lady Scott of Needham Market have spoken on the Bills that will affect housing and planning, and my noble friend Lady Scott is a great champion of town and parish councils.

It is undoubtedly true that the planning system as currently operated does not lead to speedy decisions being made, nor are permissions acted upon once granted. Other noble Lords have raised that issue. Meanwhile, families are living in inadequate and unstable accommodation. Vital infrastructure projects are languishing and a lack of urgency to tackle these problems was absent from the previous Government’s outlook. Rural housing should be a priority, with rural exception sites getting developments.

Although there are many who will not welcome the planning and housing proposals being brought forward, no one can deny that the current system is broken and in need of reform. That reform needs to include those farmers who want to invest in producing renewable energy but find themselves constrained by planning regulations. It is time for permitted development rights to include net-zero projects such as on-farm solar, on-farm wind turbines, and agricultural water reserves and slurry stores.

I was delighted to be in the Chamber to hear the maiden speech of the noble Lord, Lord Fuller, and congratulate him on his contribution. The noble Lord is an excellent champion of local government and will provide first-class experience in the debates on all its aspects, including devolution, local public transport, building the right houses in the right places and delivering infrastructure projects, alongside food production.

As we are able to speak on only one day, as the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle, mentioned, I will comment briefly on the subject of banks and make a plea for the Government to promote community banks in this country. Currently, the very influential high street banks make all the running and have set huge obstacles in the way of community banks, making it impossible, in effect, for them to be set up here in the UK. Let us contrast this with the USA, where they have embraced the culture and benefits of community banks, which have thrived as a result. I urge the new Government to set in motion the mechanisms to allow community banks to flourish in the UK.

On energy, I welcome the establishment of Great British Energy. My noble friends Lord Russell and Lady Sheehan have spoken to energy and other aspects of climate change, including the role of green energy. The creation and supply of electricity is a key issue. Businesses depend on electricity for their success. However, the national grid appears to maintain a stand-alone approach to connection services. Both housing and infrastructure projects are stalled, due to lack of connection to the grid. It is not just those responsible for the grid who are dragging their feet, but those who are responsible for inspecting and authorising electrical connections to new businesses. This is desperately slow. My noble friend Lady Parminter raised the difference in the cost of charging electrical vehicles on the high street and in the home.

I turn to illegal sewage dumping, which was a major issue during the election campaign. I welcome the proposals to block the payment of bonuses to those water executives who regularly oversee the discharge of sewage into what were once our gloriously clear rivers, streams and waterways. The right reverend Prelate the Bishop of St Albans raised the issue of sewage discharges. On these Benches, we have long been supporters of tackling this issue. We look forward to it being one of the early priorities brought forward. Issuing fines and installing real-time monitors at every sewage outlet is to be welcomed. I look forward to the day when my interventions on sewage overflows will no longer be needed and I can move to other subjects.

Ofwat is to be given additional powers to ban bonuses for water executives; I hope it is up for it. The Ofwat forward plan has now been published and is out for a consultation, which closes at the end of August. While it is important for this issue to be tackled, and long-overdue investment in the water companies’ infrastructure should occur, this should not be at the expense of higher water bills for householders already struggling to make their income stretch to cover all their outgoings. I support the noble Duke, the Duke of Wellington, on his proposals to reform both the water regulators.

I turn now to those absent measures which I was expecting to see in the gracious Speech as they were trailed in the Labour manifesto. These include the proposed nine new national river walks, one in each region of England, and three new national forests in England, alongside much-needed action to protect and enhance wetlands, peat bogs, and forests. I understand completely that the Government will have pressing priorities they wish to tackle immediately, but could the Minister say whether these and other issues have been postponed until next year or abandoned altogether?

I include in this the move to a circular waste economy. There have been many debates in this Chamber on waste, both household and commercial. Glass and plastic are potentially easy targets for recycling, but implementation has been continually postponed. Waste is one of the chief dangers for wildlife of all species, as they find it discarded in their natural environments and both get tangled up in it and attempt to eat it, leading to very distressing situations. We cannot afford to ignore this problem any longer if the country is to regain some of its depleted biodiversity.

Animal welfare has long been promoted by Labour and was on its to-do list. I was disappointed when the Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Bill was abandoned by the previous Government, and pleased that it had a mention in the Labour manifesto, along with puppy smuggling. The noble Lord, Lord Gascoigne, raised this issue. Previous attempts to tackle puppy smuggling were unsuccessful. This is an invidious trade, exploiting both the puppies themselves and their mothers. I look forward to supporting this measure when it comes forward. Does the Minister have a timeframe for this?

While on the subject of animals, I refer to the possible ban on the import of fur and fur products; 77% of the public are in favour of this measure. I have spoken against the current MoD practice of importing Canadian bear pelts to make bearskin busbies for the Grenadier Guards to wear. Surely, to goodness, now is the time to switch from animal skins to synthetic material for this ceremonial use.

Lastly, I turn to the plight of the British farmer, who has seen their income reduce following the phasing out of the basic farm payments. I should say that I fully support the implementation of ELMS, but it needs to be far more transparent than it has been previously. Food security is vital. We can see from the conflicts around the world that a secure supply of food is critical.

The plan operated by Defra is not transparent, and farmers have no real confidence in the full transition to ELMS, especially where it relates to uplands and tenant farmers. The noble Lord, Lord Harlech, referred to ELMS. I know this is a subject dear to the Minister’s heart and I hope that she has some encouraging words on the implementation and further rollout of ELMS, and food production. The noble Lord, Lord Curry of Kirkharle, also raised this issue.

Before I finish, I would like to stress the need for a land use framework. The noble Baroness, Lady Hayman, the noble Lords, Lord Roborough and Lord Curry of Kirkharle, and the noble Earl, Lord Devon, all raised this issue. The work on this has been completed by the committee chaired by the noble Lord, Lord Cameron of Dillington. Now, at the beginning of this Parliament, is the time to see this vital framework pushed ahead, so that many of the Bills the Government are proposing can be implemented to the greatest effect and the best use can be made of our limited land supply.