National Trust Acts

Baroness Wheeler Excerpts

Tuesday 21st January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Swire (Con)]

My Lords—

[Captain of the King’s Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard and Deputy Chief Whip (Baroness Wheeler) (Lab)]

My Lords, it is the turn of the noble Lord.

[Lord Tyrie (Non-Afl)]

I think that most of us would agree that the National Trust does a very fine job and has done so over many years. None the less, the noble Lord, Lord Lexden, has a point. It is a huge institution, is one of the largest landowners in the country and is in receipt of huge amounts of public money, not only directly in grants but indirectly through taxpayer reliefs. The time might now be ripe for a review that will look not only at the governance, to which the noble Lord referred, but at the accountability mechanisms, to make sure that the body remains well run.