Local Government Reorganisation

Debate between Baroness Taylor of Stevenage and Lord Swire

Tuesday 21st July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I am grateful to my noble friend, as ever, particularly for his championing of Leicestershire, which he does admirably. The Government were always clear that boundary changes could be considered where there is a strong justification. Where proposals set out a credible case, we have considered them on their merits. This reflects the aim to ensure that new councils are able to deliver effectively for their communities over the long term, including supporting future growth. The point that my noble friend makes is really important in this. Some of our cities and towns are constrained by boundaries which came from a different era. If we are to maximise the growth in those areas, we needed to accept that there may have to be boundary changes. They are not a deviation from our stated criteria; they were absolutely part of our considerations to make sure that we met the challenge of growth for our towns and cities, but also that we enabled our local authorities to come forward with proposals that made sense for their local area.

[Lord Swire (Con)]

My Lords, the Labour Party has a record of trying to destroy what it regards as Tory support, particularly in the shires. We saw that with its cack-handed approach to regional assemblies, which got nowhere. I do not know how well the Minister knows Devon, my county, but she has delivered on the agenda that has been pushed for many years by Labour-dominated Exeter City Council, which has had its eye on the rich plains of my old constituency of East Devon, which, under these proposals, it will now have. I believe that these proposals for Devon to have four different local unitary authorities do not serve the people of Devon. The Government have made a great announcement over the past 24 hours that all policies will be subject to rural-proofing. I simply ask the Minister this: what rural-proofing has been done on these proposals for the fourth part of these Devon proposals, which will leave a great swathe of rural Devon underrepresented, with the wealth concentrated in the three other unitary authorities?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I am going to sound a bit like a stuck record, but the proposals came forward from the local authorities themselves.