Crown Estate (Wales) Bill [HL]

Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle Excerpts

Friday 7th February 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (GP)]

My Lords, I am delighted to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Smith of Llanfaes, and congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Wigley, on bringing before us this important and timely Bill. We have a sense of unfinished business here. It is not too late, as we have heard, for the Government to pick this up with their own Crown Estate Bill, and we saw the possibility of that happening demonstrated earlier today in your Lordships’ House.

It is worth noting the point made by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, that we are talking here about land resources that are the result of conquest. It is interesting that in the current global position, it is a Green principle to believe in self-determination and democracy. I know that the Wales Green Party has been campaigning very strongly in favour of the step that the Bill delivers, and I am sure I will be talking about it with its members when I visit Cardiff next weekend.

I hope that everyone will agree that if we want to discuss British values, self-determination and the right for people to democratically decide their own governance and to have control over their own resources are indeed British values. The Bill is timely because currently these are issues of great concern to the people of Greenland and Panama, as they are to the people of Wales. If we believe in the increasingly battered principle of an international rules-based order and if we are to stand up against powerful forces opposed to that, working at speed to smash them both in their home countries and abroad, this Bill takes us in the right direction.

It is also worth looking at the context of much that is discussed in your Lordships’ House, such as the recent Channel 4 report on Generation Z, identified as those aged 13 to 27. The headline said that a majority of young people want the country to be a dictatorship. When you actually look into the detail of the questions that were asked, it is a little more complex than that. They were asked whether they favoured a strong leader

“who does not have to bother with Parliament and elections”.

I note that these young people are perhaps reflecting what we are hearing from the Government and the governing classes, given that we have just seen the abolition of a large number of elections being delivered by the Government and a great deal of talk about elected mayors being strong leaders. So we might want to look at where these ideas are coming from.

Before we give up on democracy, we should think about trying it. This Bill delivers democracy for the people of Wales. Democracy is not just about voting; it is about deliberating, being in control, being able to collectively make decisions and the people most affected being able to make them, and benefiting from their own resources. As has been commented on by multiple noble Lords, I believe it is the policy of the Labour Party in Wales to support the Bill.

It is worth noting the very relevant context. Report stage of the Great British Energy Bill will be with your Lordships’ House next week and I understand that the Government have finally made a concession on supporting community energy, something that your Lordships’ House has fought for and backed again and again. I reserve the right for final judgment until I have seen the detail; none the less, this is a positive sign. The Bill of the noble Lord, Lord Wigley, would enable much more community control and community energy to be delivered in Wales rather than by giant multinational companies operating with far distant commissioners.

Finally, if this Bill was delivered, it would really highlight the remaining lack of democracy around the whole Crown Estate structure for England.

The noble Lord, Lord Moynihan, said that the Bill might delay. I suggest that it would greatly enhance and speed up the possibility of delivering that community and democratic energy. There is the strongest possible Green support for this and I very much hope that the noble Lord, Lord Wigley, is able to hear from the Minister that this is all going to power ahead.