East Midlands: Local Authorities and Economic Growth

Amanda Hack Excerpts

Monday 7th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Alex Norris]

I do not think we could litigate in the remaining 22 minutes whether Long Eaton is in Nottingham or Derby. My hon. Friend is perhaps better qualified than me to say so—but when I go to see him, I see a lot of Forest shirts. He is right to highlight the work of his council. It has not had very long in power, but it has taken a very progressive and ambitious approach to shaping place, and I am always proud to work with James and colleagues.

I will mention a couple more investments. Infinity Park in Derby will receive £1.5 million for a research and development facility within EMCCA’s investment zone to support the advanced manufacturing and nuclear sectors. North East Derbyshire will receive £1 million to create southern access to the Avenue site, improving access for vehicles and pedestrians and enabling future development. These developments show the vital role of devolution in unlocking the potential of regeneration across regions by putting investment back into the hands of local people.

EMCCA has not even had its first year, but the impact has been monumental, which gives us the perfect opportunity to recognise and reflect on the outstanding leadership of Mayor Claire Ward. She has had less than a year in post, but she has made a great impact in all the areas I have talked about. Projects are being developed on brownfield sites because of her leadership, and the reality is that decisions made in the east midlands should be taken by the people of the east midlands. That is why we will continue to back Claire.

The hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) mentioned freeports, and that is just another sign of our wanting to get the powers and resources to EMCCA so that Claire can show that leadership and we can all collectively drive forward the region. My hon. Friend the Member for Gedling made very important points about integrated settlements. He will not be surprised to hear that Mayor Claire makes exactly the same points to me and other Ministers on a daily basis, and the points are well made.

Turning to the important contribution from my hon. Friend the Member for Bolsover (Natalie Fleet), I think the insight about transport is best played through our combined authority. Again, it is incumbent on us at this Dispatch Box to deliver the right powers and resources to do so. There is of course the age-old problem—I say that, but it is actually quite a new one—of an east midlands mayoralty that does not quite cover all of the east midlands. I am delighted that the region is on the cusp of its second devolution success, with the upcoming election in less than a month of a Mayor for the Greater Lincolnshire combined county authority. That will bring £750 million of investment over 30 years, with an initial £20 million of capital funding to drive place-based economic regeneration. That is a great step forward and part of—something we are making good on in the English devolution White Paper—our commitment to a significant shift of power and resource from this place to local communities.

[Amanda Hack (North West Leicestershire) (Lab)]

When we talk about devolution, we cannot forget Leicestershire, which is in a devolution desert. My constituency of North West Leicestershire borders both Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. We have an international airport, but, significantly, we have no passenger rail. Does the Minister agree that actual and effective public transport is key to unlocking growth across the whole east midlands?

[Alex Norris]

I very much do agree. It should be a point of great pride—and, again, it is one of our huge assets—that we have the biggest pure freight airport in the country. Frankly, our geographical location means that all journeys involving the transport of goods tend to come through our region at some point, but with the airport they do so very directly. My hon. Friend raises, as my hon. Friend the Member for Gedling did, the fact that one of our challenges in the east midlands is linking up our opportunities by having the right access and the right public transport. I think that is absolutely crucial, and it must be the next dimension of our efforts.

Having had exactly the same conversation with Andy Reed—formerly of this parish—who is chair of the business board in Leicester and Leicestershire, I want to reassure my hon. Friend the Member for North West Leicestershire (Amanda Hack) of our commitment to making sure that, although there are devolution gaps at the moment, people in Leicestershire can also secure a bright and more sustainable future for their communities. We will work with them in whatever way we can.

My hon. Friend the Member for Gedling was exactly right in saying that we cannot forget the importance of our local councils. I am very proud to be a former member of my council. Having seen how hard it has been for local authorities in recent years, I am also very proud that, at the recent Budget, we started the journey of rebuilding local finances. I think we will start to see much better services as a result—and we have to—and people will feel that change.

Before I close, I want to cover my hon. Friend’s point, which he said with a degree of boldness, about local government reorganisation. Having made the case strongly for the devolution of power, as I think I did, my hon. Friends will know that my belief is that decisions are better taken locally than in this place, and we will certainly shift power in that regard. I think we must have a degree of responsibility in that where we add tiers of government, we rationalise other tiers. I am thinking of parts of my constituency that have five tiers of government: they have an elected mayor; they have me and this place; they have a county council; they have a borough council; and they have a town council.

I do not think it is unreasonable that we should want to bring forward that reorganisation, but my hon. Friend made very significant points about the importance of getting the voices of local communities into the room, and the moment for that is now. In the next few months to November, when we expect proposals to be submitted, we have an opportunity to have those conversations. We are at the proposals stage, and we are going to make sure that communities have the right insight to make the right judgments about their future, and we will facilitate and be part of those conversations.

To conclude, the thing that frustrates me about my city and our region is that we have had four really difficult decades—there is no doubt about that—and we see that in the physical and societal scars all across the area and in the memories we have lived with. For too long, we have talked about—or even worse, been talked about—in the deficit: what is wrong with us; what we do not have. I am really pleased with the spirit of this debate. The spirit of debate about our region over the past year, and certainly in the new Parliament, is one that talks about the opportunities in the east midlands, which are huge and abundant. We as a Government will back them, but most importantly it will be local leaders, the elected mayor, council leaders, local Members of Parliament and the local community who shape, deliver and drive that. I think that is the right way around and I cannot wait to see what we, collectively, can achieve.

Question put and agreed to.