"My Lords, I feel bound to remind the noble Lord, Lord Fuller, that the Bill is a Labour continuation of a local government reorganisation started under the Conservatives. This is very much the Michael Gove—now the noble Lord, Lord Gove—view of how England should be governed, with mayors as the …..." Lord Wallace of Saltaire - View Speech
"My Lords, I must apologise for being a little late; the annunciator was not operating properly in my room. I must also apologise that I am speaking and not my noble friend Lord Purvis. He has been at the funeral of my namesake in Kirkwall today.
"Can I press the Minister on what she said about being in favour of public appointments having parliamentary scrutiny? We on these Benches strongly support that. It sounds a very welcome thing, not necessarily for all our ambassadors but certainly for all senior public appointments. After all, we are supposed …..." Lord Wallace of Saltaire - View Speech
"My Lords, this is a Bill about local government reform, but it is also a constitutional Bill. It is about the structure of governance within the UK and in particular in England. Perhaps I should say by way of introduction that I have had some very helpful advice in preparing …..." Lord Wallace of Saltaire - View Speech
"The noble Lord did not mention the questions of where the taxes are raised and who is responsible. For those of us on the Liberal Democrat Benches, the differences between decentralisation and devolution are tax and money. So long as the Treasury retains control of the spending, we will have …..." Lord Wallace of Saltaire - View Speech
"My Lords, I have Amendment 187. There is a fair amount of agreement between myself and the noble Lord, Lord Gascoigne—on both sides of the Pennines—about the nature of the problems. This is not a devolution Bill; it is a decentralisation Bill. The Government believe that delivery is what matters …..." Lord Wallace of Saltaire - View Speech
"I am staggered at the thought of a parish council with a population over 50,000; it does not make sense to me. I am also staggered at the thought that, if we are talking about getting back to place-based communities, we are denying to places the size of Scarborough or …..." Lord Wallace of Saltaire - View Speech