Oral Answers to Questions

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering Excerpts

Thursday 4th December 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)]

6. What the implications are of the Smith commission report for further discussions of devolution in the House.

[Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

9. What the implications are of the Smith commission report for further discussions of devolution in the House.

[Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (The Cotswolds) (Con)]

10. What the implications are of the Smith commission report for further discussions of devolution in the House.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Hague]

That is an extremely important point, and, as a north Yorkshire Member of Parliament, I am certainly very conscious of it. There is a huge opportunity for local authorities to take up the challenge that has been taken up by Manchester, and to reach the same agreement with the Chancellor. However, this does not only involve metropolitan areas or conurbations; there are also major opportunities for county councils and rural authorities in general to make such plans, and we should encourage them to do so.

[Miss McIntosh]

I congratulate my right hon. Friend on delivering the Smith commission’s conclusions into legislation, but does he share my worry that the voice of rural communities such as North Yorkshire county council, and indeed the moneys for transport infrastructure and other projects, may well be adversely affected if the plans for the city region and the northern powerhouse go ahead in the form that I fear that they may take?

[Mr Hague]

It is of course important for the whole concept of the northern powerhouse to work for people throughout the north of England and for rural as well as urban areas to benefit from it. Given the locations of our constituencies, my hon. Friend and I will both be very insistent that that should happen. It is certainly possible for the whole of the north to benefit from the uplift in prosperity, skills, transport infrastructure and superfast broadband, because the Government have put together a stronger set of measures for the north of England than any other Government in recent decades.