Draft West Midlands Combined Authority (Election of Mayor) Order 2016
Debate between Andrew Percy and Lord Spellar(8 years, 3 months ago)
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Andrew Percy
The order is about creating the office of Mayor. We will set out the powers in a further order later in the parliamentary calendar, which will clearly define the exact roles of, and the levers that will be open to, the new Mayor as part of the devolution deal. For today, this narrow order is simply about creating the office of Mayor.
Mr John Spellar (Warley) (Lab)
Do the words cart and horse not spring to mind? Given that it is unclear as yet—it has not been thought out and certainly not agreed—what powers, levers and various opportunities will be open to the Mayor, why are the Government going for the election of the Mayor in a few months without knowing what the job will be?
Andrew Percy
That is not an unusual way of doing things. We are simply creating the office of the Mayor today; the powers and functions will require a further order. All of that will be in place before we proceed to the election. The West Midlands Combined Authority consulted on the proposed powers only over the summer. That consultation concluded on, I think, 21 August and there is now a period in which the Department will consider it and then lay a further order. Before the election period commences, the full powers order will have been laid before the House and will need to be approved.
I was outlining the role that the combined authority will have and the powers it will exercise in relation to the Mayor. I mentioned the £36.5 million of gain share funding. That is new Government funding for the West Midlands over 30 years, responsibility for which will rest with the combined authority. We will also devolve 19-plus adult skills funding to the combined authority and look to co-design an employment support package for harder-to-help claimants, as well as a business support partnership. In delivering the full range of commitments in the devolution deal, the Secretary of State intends to make those further orders to which I have just referred, subject to statutory requirements and parliamentary approval.
As I have said, this relatively narrow order establishes the position of Mayor for the West Midlands, sets the dates of elections for the first and subsequent terms, and defines the duration of those terms. As required, all the constituent councils and the combined authority have consented to the order being made, the Government have laid the draft order having considered the statutory requirements, and we are now seeking Parliament’s approval of the order.
The order is about delivering on our promise to devolve power to local communities and to empower them to set their own policy agendas. The Mayor will be expected to—and indeed will—work closely with the local leaders who sit on the combined authority board, and together they will drive forward the economic opportunities presented by devolution. The Mayor will act as the chairman, or chairwoman, of the combined authority, providing a single, nationally prominent voice for the area that helps to drive forward the devolution agenda.
We have already made several similar orders in trying to progress our devolution agenda. An order establishing the position of Mayor of Greater Manchester was made in March this year, and orders have also been made to establish Mayors of the Liverpool city region, the Tees Valley and the Sheffield city region. I signed the Sheffield city region and Tees Valley orders shortly after being appointed as Minister. Elections are scheduled to be held in all those areas on 4 May next year.
In conclusion—welcome words in any debate on a statutory instrument—if the draft order is approved, it will open the way for full implementation of the devolution deal that has been agreed between the Government and local leaders. It is therefore a significant milestone in the devolution journey, and we hope that it will lead to greater prosperity, a more balanced economy, and economic success across the West Midlands and the country. We are making good on our pledge to seek to devolve more power to local communities.
Andrew Percy
We have looked closely at the matter. There are advantages and disadvantages, but the fact remains that, unless we get the Mayor elected, we cannot confer those powers that we all want to see conferred on the Mayor. It will be a three-year term, with the following election in 2020, which I assume is not an off-year for Birmingham. It is important we get the deal in place and that we do not wait another year before we elect the Mayor.
The right hon. Lady and the right hon. Member for Warley asked what levers will be available on housing. We have been clear that those are the powers currently available to the Homes and Communities Agency. The Mayor will also be given certain powers over the planning process. It is important that we have those things established as swiftly as possible, and that will all be laid out in a further order.
Mr Spellar
My right hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Edgbaston raised a significant point. The explanatory notes say that the reason for having a three-year term from 2017 is to coincide with the elections in 2020. She will correct me if I am wrong, but if the all-out election is in 2018, there will be a succession of all-out elections every four years, unless the wards will be three-member wards. The Department has set out its justification for having a three-year term and thereafter coinciding with the cycle. For a massive chunk—I do not know what the electorate is, but it is just over 1 million people in Birmingham—it will always be out of sync.
Andrew Percy
There will of course be a general election in 2020, which is the election with the highest turnout. We want to get the deal in place as quickly as possible. It is important that the powers are conferred on the Mayor as quickly as possible. I hope that the right hon. Gentleman, as a local Member of Parliament, would not want a further year to pass before the Mayor takes the powers and starts to deliver on those elements that will be devolved to them. We have looked very closely at the matter, May is the normal time for elections. We are not repeating the PCC experience by having an election in November. It is May, which is the usual month for elections.
Mr Spellar
On this particular point, if there is a general election in 2020—the Act now specifies a five-year term—and if there is a four-year term for the Mayor, then forever and a day, once we are past 2020, those will be out of sync.
Andrew Percy
The fact is that it is not possible, given the timing of elections, with some authorities on thirds—
Andrew Percy
Not just in this area—I am talking about devolution deals across the country—there will be some counties that are on thirds, some that include county councils and some that have districts that are on all-out, so it is not possible to create a bespoke election day that will satisfy all the interests the right hon. Gentleman has raised. We have been clear that 2017 is the date when we want to introduce a number of mayoral elections throughout the UK, making good on the devolution deals that have been signed. Remember that his local authorities and local constituent councils have consented to this and to having a mayoral election next year. The timing will not, as I have said, be as it was with the PCC elections; the election will take place during the ordinary period of an election.
On the other points raised by the shadow Minister, I think I have dealt with the particular planning powers and competences that the new Mayor will take over from the HCA. I want to deal directly with his challenge on elected mayors. We have been clear that, where deals have already been negotiated, and those deals include the West Midlands and the north-east, which had already consented to a directly elected Mayor, those deals should proceed on the basis of what was agreed. I thought long and hard over the summer about the issue of mayors. Having my accent, if we dropped mayors, it would perhaps be a little easier for me because “mayors” is very difficult to say with a Hull accent. I thought long and hard about the matter over the summer. It is very difficult to design a system that does not include a Mayor and gives the level of accountability that we require and expect, particularly given the significant powers that will be conferred as part of these devolution deals. We have been clear that we remain open to working with local authorities on deals and it is for them to come up with robust governance structures, which we will consider. We are also clear that, if a local community wants the scale of devolution that has been offered, the extra money and the extra powers that are part of the deals that have already been negotiated and that the north-east was a signatory to, we expect an elected Mayor to be part of that, as the strongest form of accountability.
I regret what has happened with the north-east, but I hope that those councils will continue to work with Government. As the Minister responsible, I am open to continuing to work with those authorities—
Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership
Debate between Andrew Percy and Lord Spellar
Mr Spellar
My hon. Friend and I will have to discuss this matter later. The problem is that such a process would require the creation of a supranational court, unless there was an agreement on reciprocity between the Supreme Court and the European Court, which might cause problems with Conservative colleagues.
There was very little controversy over CETA and the discussions with the Canadians, or those with the Koreans and all the other countries with which the EU has conducted trade talks, until we began discussions with the United States, which touched many people’s nerve endings and neurons.
Andrew Percy
The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right that if we scratch beneath much of the opposition, we find blatant anti-Americanism. Does he agree that it is deeply offensive to the Canadian Government to describe CETA as a Trojan horse for TTIP, as if “little Canada” were doing America’s dirty work? That is the implication, and it is deeply offensive to Canada, a country with standards of protection that go beyond our own in many areas.
Mr Spellar
I thank the hon. Gentleman for a point well made.
My hon. Friend the Member for Swansea West then talked about China and, interestingly, about the environmental situation there. If the EU and the US do not do a trade deal to enshrine the current free trade and democratic liberal order, the Chinese will be the ones setting the parameters of world trade, and he has rightly identified that they might be much less concerned about issues such as workers’ rights and the environment.
With regard to the Canadian deal, my hon. Friend raised concerns about food and the implications for geographic indicators—Welsh lamb and so on. In fact, one of the great attractions not only for farmers in the UK but for framers across Europe, particularly southern Europe, is the provision for geographic indicators; and, to be frank, one of the attractions for Canada and the United States is the ability to sell GM, so a trade of GM for GI might well come out of these talks and be of advantage.