Devolution (Implications for England)

Guy Opperman Excerpts

Tuesday 16th December 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hague]

We—both of the coalition parties involved—envisage greater devolution of powers to local authorities. I mentioned that the Liberal Democrats have proposed devolution on demand, which could include legislative powers. The Conservative party regards legislative powers as remaining here in this House, so on law relating to any part of England the decision would continue to be one for all the Members of Parliament for English constituencies.

[Guy Opperman (Hexham) (Con)]

The injustice is particularly felt by my constituents 1 mile south of the Scottish border, who wish to see powers, votes and spending devolved to them in England. Does my right hon. Friend agree that after five reports over 17 years of consideration of this process, and the Labour party now opting out of the process, we should simply press on and get the resolved settlement that we all so need?

[Mr Hague]

We absolutely should press on, and this Command Paper provides the foundation for doing so. This will be essential in all political parties, as all candidates will find in the coming general election that they need to address this issue, because the voters will want to know where they stand on it. Therefore, we should proceed with considerable speed in identifying the preferred option in our parties and in this House, and I look forward to doing so over the next few weeks.

Business of the House

Guy Opperman Excerpts

Thursday 4th December 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hague]

The hon. Lady will have every opportunity to ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, as he will be coming to the House on Monday for questions. It will be Treasury questions the next day, so I imagine that there will be a good many opportunities to raise these issues next week.

[Guy Opperman (Hexham) (Con)]

May we have a debate on air passenger duty following the autumn statement and the Smith commission? My constituents were delighted yesterday by the changes in the autumn statement that mean that they will no longer have to pay £71 per child for under-12s, and for under-16s as we go forward. We need the regionalisation of APD for the northern airports, so that there is no problem with competition.

[Mr Hague]

Airports in the north of England are benefiting from the decisions the Chancellor has made on APD, as well as from the reductions to long-haul rates from April, the four-year freeze on the short-haul rates and the very important announcement in the autumn statement about the abolition of APD for children. Newcastle airport is eligible for support under the regional air connectivity fund, which we have expanded. My right hon. Friend the Chancellor gave my hon. Friend a helpful reply yesterday, and I cannot add to that at the moment.

Votes at 16

Guy Opperman Excerpts

Tuesday 6th May 2014 Westminster Hall

[Sarah Champion]

I completely agree; it echoes what I have been saying. If young people were able to have a much stronger voice, we would listen to them and make our policies fairer.

We are at a point in history when the statistics tell the story of declining trust in party politics and its ability to effect change, not specifically among young people but across the board. There is a feeling of being disfranchised in all our communities and among all age groups, and a real and urgent need to reverse that feeling before it continues into future generations. Engaging young people will help to build up a politically interested society and will bring change not just now but for future generations.

Toni Paxford, a member of Rotherham’s youth cabinet, told me that, for her, the issue was not necessarily the signal that getting the vote would send, but the signal sent by not being given it. She told me of a friend who spends most of her spare time volunteering for charity, as well as of her own experiences raising £3,000 independently for local charities. She argued that by not giving 16-year-olds the vote, society fails to recognise the important contributions that young people can make, and that the failure to recognise those contributions would bring about a culture of apathy among young people.

That point brings me to the contributions made to our society by 16 and 17-year-olds. Toni’s example is one of an incredible volunteering commitment, but such contributions to society come via other routes as well. Sixteen-year-olds can legally become parents, but they raise their children in a society in which they cannot have a say. They can legally go to work and contribute to our economy but are not allowed a say in what our economic policy should be. Perhaps most starkly of all, we let 16-year-olds join our armed forces and thus represent our country, but do not respect them enough to give them a say in our defence policy.

It is not fair or right to allow that set of conflicting messages to continue. We cannot expect 16 and 17-year-olds to contribute to our society through various means—economically, physically, intellectually or socially—in a capacity where we recognise them as an adult, but then give them the democratic rights of a child. That conflict is already being recognised in a number of countries, such as Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Argentina. We must not allow ourselves to fall behind: we have been pioneers of voting reform in the UK in the past, and I hope that we are open-minded enough now to continue that trend. It is high time that we recognised the clash within our expectations of 16-year-olds. We trust our young people to contribute to society in many ways, so we should start to give them their democratic rights.

If people counter the campaign for votes at 16 with arguments that 16 and 17-year-olds are not mature or responsible enough to vote, I will argue that they should look to the many mature and responsible ways in which 16 and 17-year-olds are already legally entitled and expected to contribute to our society. Allowing voting at 16 would send so many positive signals to our young people. It would say, “We value your voice. We value your contribution. We believe you are responsible.”

[Guy Opperman (Hexham) (Con)]

I congratulate the hon. Lady on securing this debate, and apologise that, owing to problems with my train, I was not here at the beginning. I may have missed her saying this at the start of her speech, but does she agree that if her argument is taken forward, at the very least the idea should be piloted in a small, designated area rather than rolled out nationwide?

[Sarah Champion]

I would argue that it is already being piloted in Scotland and Wales, where the responses are positive. However, if the only way the Government will take the idea forward is by piloting, let us pilot.

Positive messages are crucial to creating a new generation of politically engaged and inspired people who will go on to teach their future families such values, and are exactly why voting at 16 is important. The onus is on us to show young people that they count too.

The votes at 16 campaign is not a new one—it goes back approximately 10 years—but public interest in it is gathering towards critical mass, particularly given the 2012 vote in the Welsh Assembly in favour of lowering the voting age to 16 and the fact that 16-year-olds will be voting in the Scottish referendum. There is a clear and strong appetite for the reform. I accept that it faces strong opposition, but radical change always does. Change is not always comfortable or easy, but when it is right and just, sidestepping the need for it simply shows cowardice.

It is time that 16 and 17-year-olds were recognised for the things that they can and do contribute to society. The country might not be quite ready for it, but in my view, that means our task is to make the country ready. We must take up the challenge and make the political reforms required to give young people a stronger citizenship education, a greater degree of political knowledge and a broad range of political opportunities. Only by doing so will we give the vote to 16-year-olds in an effective way. By raising our young people rather than pushing them down, we will open up democracy and create a generation of more inspired and confident citizens, who have real faith that politics can make changes for them, their families and their communities.

For too long, the idea has been denied and the issue has been sidestepped. As far back as 1998, the British Youth Council surveyed 1,000 young people and asked their opinions on votes at 16; the response reinforced the desire for 16-year-olds to become a part of the democratic system. In 1999, the right hon. Member for Bermondsey and Old Southwark (Simon Hughes) proposed an amendment on the issue to the Representation of the People Bill then going through the House; it was defeated by 434 votes to 36, showing that at that time the opinion of Members of Parliament was significantly against votes at 16. That year, however, the Trades Union Congress passed a motion calling for votes at 16.

Through the early years of the 21st century the campaign gathered strength, galvanising support from the Children’s Rights Alliance for England and the Young People’s Rights Network, and even featuring in the electoral manifesto of the Liberal Democrats. An Electoral Commission review of the idea was launched, and private Member’s Bills on voting at 16 were brought forward in 2004, 2005 and 2008. Some progress has been made in recent years but Parliament seems consistently to refuse to give the issue the attention it deserves. On the 24 January last year, Stephen Williams MP led an historic debate in the House of Commons on extending the vote to 16—

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[Mr Harper]

My hon. Friend makes a good point; I was coming to that. I have been involved in this argument since I was elected to Parliament in 2005, and have heard many of the arguments used in favour of various ages of consent for various activities. He is quite right. It is interesting that in many cases the age has been going upwards, often for sensible reasons: we are saying that we want to protect children from certain activities and that we do not think that they can make sensible judgments on some issues. However, I find it interesting that those who are keenest on votes for 16-year-olds—those who think that 16-year-olds should be able to decide who governs our country—are often the same people who are keenest to say in many other areas that 16-year-olds are not able to make decisions, and to increase the age limit. My hon. Friend makes a sensible point, to which I will come in a moment.

The hon. Member for Rotherham discussed the school leaving age and people’s ability to go out to work. Again, the trend on that issue is in the opposite direction to the one that she proposes. We are now mandating education or training until age 18, although I recognise that that applies in England and not in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. The driving age is one age limit that I, coming from a rural constituency, would rather keep at 17, because it enables children to be more mobile, especially those who have left school to go to work or those going into higher or further education. However, there are proposals to increase that minimum age as well.

We do not think that 16-year-olds should be able to purchase alcohol, but the age limit that has changed since I have been in Parliament, of course, is the one for purchasing tobacco, for sensible reasons. Personally, I have no problem with adults smoking. I do not think it is a pleasant habit, but I think that adults should be free to make the decision to smoke, although I would not do so myself. However, we think that we should protect children from tobacco, and we do not allow them to purchase it until they are 18. It would be a bit odd to say to children, “We don’t think you’re able to make a decision about smoking tobacco until you’re an adult, but”—to follow the hon. Lady’s argument—“we do think you’re able to vote for representatives who will make decisions about legislation.”

We do not let people gamble until they are 18, with the exception of playing the national lottery and buying certain scratchcards. Many film classifications still have an 18 certificate. We accept that there are many items of subject matter in films, videos and DVDs that we should not allow children to watch. Since I have been in Parliament, there has been an interesting debate—again, one of its proponents was someone who thinks that we should lower the voting age—after which the Houses of Parliament passed the Sunbeds (Regulation) Act 2010, in which we decided that those under 18 years of age were not capable of exercising a decision whether to have a tan or not. That may or may not be a sensible decision—I did not feel particularly strongly one way or the other—but I find it slightly odd that the same people who pass legislation saying that someone must be an adult to make such decisions think that we should lower the voting age. That is not very intellectually consistent.

[Guy Opperman]

I held a debate involving four high schools—Haydon Bridge, Ponteland, Prudhoe and Hexham—on that particular issue last month. It was won by Ponteland high school, whose students proposed the motion for 16-year-old voting, and who also swayed quite an elderly audience—with respect to them. I accept that my hon. Friend is my former boss, and normally I would obey everything he says, but on this issue, does he not accept that to a degree, whether or not the argument is won today, the tide is beginning to turn a little?

[Mr Harper]

No, I do not accept that. In a moment, I will counter what the hon. Member for Rotherham (Sarah Champion) said by explaining why I do not think that the voting age is particularly significant to how Members of Parliament conduct themselves, or ought to conduct themselves, with regard to young people. I might touch then on my hon. Friend’s point. I will not labour any more of the arguments, but it is worth saying that the trend is against allowing younger people to make such decisions.

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[Mr Harper]

I do not share that concern, for two reasons. My hon. Friend mentioned people’s motivations for change. I am perfectly happy to accept that the hon. Member for Rotherham is setting out a case that I have heard before from those in favour of the argument, and that it is reasonable. It is, of course, the case that certain people are in favour of allowing 16-year-olds to vote for one reason only; I am thinking of one particular First Minister of Scotland whose only reason for wanting young people to vote in the Scottish referendum was that he looked at opinion polling evidence from some time ago and thought that they would be more likely to vote in favour of Scottish independence. That is the only reason why he supported allowing them into the debate. Subsequently, of course, polling evidence showed that young people have changed their minds and are now opposed to independence.

That is why I am relaxed about the issue. First, I think that we should treat younger people with respect and argue our view, even if it does not necessarily accord with theirs. I think that we will actually get some credit for being prepared to say things to people with which they might not agree, but which we think are right. Secondly, to go back to votes for women, there were people on the left who thought that enfranchising women would mean that women voted for them. The lesson for our party—less true recently, but certainly true for the bulk of the 20th century—is that the enfranchisement of women meant that the Conservative party was in power when we otherwise would not have been if only men had had the right to vote.

[Guy Opperman]

On the Scottish referendum, I was in Aberdeenshire last September and was delighted to see that the youngsters proposing to vote were canvassed. Of pupils in the entirety of the Aberdeen schools, 75% were in favour of the Union. Surely, from a politician’s point of view, the lesson is to be careful what you wish for.

[Mr Harper]

My hon. Friend is right. I will mention opinion polling, but it suggests that we should set out what we think is right and have some confidence that it will stand us in good stead, rather than make a cynical calculation of what we think people in some age group might or might not decide to vote for and take a view for that reason, which has a great likelihood of backfiring.



The reason why I have laboured the point about age categories is that if we do not set the voting age at 18 —the age at which we suggest that children become adults—I am slightly concerned about where we will set it. I know that the hon. Member for Rotherham is advocating that we set it at 16, but I am concerned that once we move it to 16, based on her arguments, there are no good reasons why we should not make it 14 or 10, for example. We say that 10 is the age of criminal responsibility, at which people may be held accountable for their actions, so why not 10, 12 or 14? I have met plenty of 14-year-olds in my constituency who are perfectly capable of listening to facts and arguments, making very good arguments themselves and making up their own minds. By the hon. Lady’s argument, there is no logical reason why I should not give them the vote. If we move away from 18, there is no obvious place to stop, which I think is a good reason for sticking where we are today.

Business of the House

Guy Opperman Excerpts

Thursday 30th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman. We did indeed correspond following his previous question, and that confirmed that the Department does not have a target for completion of personal independence payment claims. It is a new benefit, and we are looking closely at how long the journey to completion of claims takes, against the original estimates. Where there are further opportunities to streamline those processes, we will certainly introduce them.

[Guy Opperman (Hexham) (Con)]

May we have a Treasury debate on regional cuts to air passenger duty for entrants to the long-haul market, which would stimulate growth, reduce the burden on the south- east and kick-start the regional economy? I echo what was said by the right hon. Member for Belfast North (Mr Dodds).

[Mr Lansley]

I will not reiterate what I have said, but the point about regional airports is well taken. Taxes and duties are of course matters for my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer, but I will be glad to alert my hon. Friends at the Treasury to the point that my hon. Friend raises.

Lobbying

Guy Opperman Excerpts

Tuesday 25th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

As I have said, it will set out a statutory register of lobbyists.

[Guy Opperman (Hexham) (Con)]

Will my right hon. Friend give way?

[Mr Lansley]

No, I will not give way. It would be better for me to make my speech and explain what we are planning to do than simply to try to respond to more interventions.

We did not hear from the Opposition about this subject; they did not respond to our consultation last year. It is interesting that the first time we heard from them was when we announced that we would introduce a Bill before the summer, at which point they tabled their motion calling for the Government to introduce a Bill. This is an interesting concept: they are not jumping on someone else’s bandwagon; they are jumping on ours. This is a flagrant example of that.

In the event, the hon. Member for Hemsworth did not offer any practical ideas; instead, he offered assertions and slogans masquerading as policy. He should have had the honesty to admit that the Labour Government put the issue in the “too hot to handle” box. They did not resolve the complex nature of the problem, which has been revealed by the divergent responses to the consultation. The responses showed that we are far from achieving consensus on the nature of regulation that is required.

The Government will set out to promote the culture of openness that best delivers the positive behaviours and public confidence that we all seek.

HEALTH

Guy Opperman Excerpts

Thursday 20th December 2012 Commons Chamber

Helen Goodman (Bishop Auckland) (Lab)

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May I say what a pleasure it is to follow the hon. Member for Beckenham (Bob Stewart) and say to him how much he epitomises the benefits to the House of having people with so much experience and so much to contribute to our understanding of military matters?

I wish to talk about the economic situation of my constituency. Some 100 years ago, the north-east was the main driver of economic development not just in this country, but in the whole of the British empire. Today, the north-east is still the most successful exporting region outside London. That is because it has the largest car plant in Europe; it has the largest chemical plant in the UK; it is leading in electric vehicle manufacturing; it is at the centre of sustainable energy innovation; and it can lead in the new industry of offshore wind. So I wish to pose the question: in this Government’s quest to restart growth, why do they not look to the north-east?

In order fully to develop the north-east’s potential, we need a region-wide approach that brings together the public and private sectors; concentration on those industrial clusters where the region’s university research and development can be translated into innovation; skills and retraining for adults and young people, so that people losing jobs in public administration can reasonably take up new opportunities in the private sector and so that young people are given a fair chance; a fair share of the Government’s infrastructure spend, particularly to improve transport and connectivity; and investment in housing and place making.

Unfortunately, what the Government have delivered to the north-east is massive cuts. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, the scale of the cuts in 2010 was huge—in 2010 it came to £2.8 billion, which was 7% of the value of the regional economy. The cuts were also unfair; the cuts to the north-east’s local authorities were three times the scale of those in the south-east. In other words, the Chancellor of the Exchequer took £1,000 from every man, woman and child in the region. The cuts in the north-east are even larger than the cuts being faced by the Spanish people.

I had some new analysis undertaken by Oxford Economics on the second-round effects—the knock-on effects on the private sector—to see why we have such a high level of shop closures on the high streets in our region. Its analysis showed that there had been a further £1 billion in lost output; that is a 10% drop in the size of the regional economy. If the International Monetary Fund is right, the second-round effects are even greater, at £3.5 billion.

Guy Opperman (Hexham) (Con)

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I am listening carefully to the hon. Lady’s speech, and I accept that difficult struggles lie ahead. However, on skills, does she not accept that the number of apprenticeships has doubled in her area? On infrastructure, does she not accept that this Government have done the A1 strongly, all the way to Newcastle and potentially beyond? The north-east also had the third largest increase in employment in the whole country in the last quarter.

Helen Goodman

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I am afraid I do not accept the hon. Gentleman’s analysis. I was about to point out that last year, of the £40 billion infrastructure budget put forward by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the north-east received 0.03%. As a consequence, unemployment in the north-east is the highest in the entire country at 9.9%. The Institute for Fiscal Studies says that public sector job losses so far are already at 45,000 and Oxford Economics projects that total job losses will be 68,000, whereas 46,000 new jobs will be created. So, in 10 years’ time, we will be left with a jobs deficit of 20,000.

The Government talked a lot about rebalancing the economy but have tipped the scales further against the north. Given the opportunities for growth in the north-east, that is at the whole country’s expense. [Interruption.] If I may say so, it would be more polite for the Deputy Leader of the House to listen to my speech rather than to the chuntering of the hon. Member for Hexham (Guy Opperman).

How did the Chancellor of the Exchequer use the chance he had in the autumn statement? On 5 December, he announced new capital spend in the region of £142 million, with £64 million spent on road improvements near Gateshead and £78 million on housing. At first blush, as the hon. Member for Hexham said, it sounded quite good. In fact, however, once again it was only 3% of the total capital spending proposed by the Chancellor.

Let us look at the other measures taken by the Chancellor, which will dwarf that capital spending in the long run. Yesterday, we heard that he had taken another £42 million from councils in the north-east, not just next year but every year. He also introduced the strivers’ tax on people on low incomes, which will take £25 million from people in the north-east next year, £90 million the year after that and £180 million in the third year.

At the same time, of course, the Government are giving millionaires a tax cut. What does that do? It puts £40 million into the economy of the north-east and £640 million into the economies of London and the south-east. That is not simply unjust; it is foolish. The north-east is contributing all the time to the savings the Chancellor of the Exchequer demands, but it is not receiving its proper share of investment.

What is the justification for those disproportionate cuts when the north-east economy plainly has so much to offer? Could it be that the Chancellor thinks the political battleground for 2015 will be the marginal seats in the east and west midlands? The Government appear to be playing politics with public money.

I am calling for a one nation approach in which the assets of the north-east are valued and nurtured, in which there is a fair funding formula for public services based on need, and in which investment in infrastructure is based on economic potential not political calculation. I hope very much that the Deputy Leader of the House can pass those messages on to his colleagues in the Treasury and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. It merely remains for me to wish you, Mr Deputy Speaker, and the whole House a very happy Christmas.

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Stephen Gilbert (St Austell and Newquay) (LD)

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It is always a pleasure to speak in these end-of-term Adjournment debates. Their value has just been aptly demonstrated by the hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell), who has sent a chilling note through the Chamber, and a warning call that I hope the authorities will listen to. It is always a great pleasure to hear my hon. Friend the Member for Southend West (Mr Amess), with his tour de force of constituency issues. Sadly, I can take no pleasure in having to raise in this House access to flood insurance and support for flood-hit local authorities yet again.

Last night, we saw torrential rain across the south-west cause considerable damage to businesses and homes, and disruption on many key travel routes. In my constituency, the villages of Par, Bugle, St Blazey, Gorran Haven and Mevagissey have been flooded again. Across Cornwall, other communities in Polbathic, Altarnun, St Keverne and Gunwalloe have all been hit too. This is not uncommon for the people of Cornwall—just four weeks ago we were hit with flooding. The House may remember that shortly after the general election in 2010 Cornwall was hit with serious flooding too, occasioning the Prime Minister to join me in some of the communities I have just mentioned.

I would like to take this opportunity to extend my thanks and give praise to the work of the emergency services overnight—the firefighters, the police, ambulance workers across Cornwall and the south-west, and the 100 Cornwall council staff—who were out all night helping people to move to safety, and trying to minimise the damage to properties and to life. However, we are not out of the woods yet. The Met Office and the Environment Agency are predicting continued severe weather in the south-west. The EA currently has 19 flood warnings and 52 flood alerts across the region—stark warnings about large swathes of the south-west being at imminent flood risk due to the saturation levels already in the ground.

It is clear that we cannot always build flood defences that will protect people against all eventualities. I am sure that if the hon. Member for Brent North (Barry Gardiner) was in his place—he is an assiduous campaigner on environmental issues—he would agree that with climate change we will see increasingly unpredictable weather across our country for years to come. However, we in this House should be able to ensure that everybody has access to insurance when the worst happens. That sounds very simple, but the Government, flood groups and insurers have been grappling with the problem for a long time and seem no closer to resolving it. The typical cost of flood damage to a home is approximately £30,000, and approximately 200,000 homes are at risk of flooding.

The last Government agreed a statement of principles—a five-year agreement—that meant that flood insurance had to be included in house insurance. It was a worthy goal and a good step forward, but it was not perfect. For example, it did not apply to homes built after October 2009 and, more importantly, made little attempt to help those in the severest flood-risk areas, which was bewildering, frankly. Despite that, however, that statement of principles was a worthy effort to ensure that when flooding hit a community, people were able to rebuild their lives. Unfortunately, it expires next June, and at the moment the House is yet to see any concrete proposals for how this important issue will be dealt with after that point. Communities across the country, including those that I represent, are already struggling to get affordable flood-risk insurance, even though it might technically be available. I urge my right hon. Friend to look into this issue and ensure that the proposals come forward in a timely way and can be adequately debated by the House.

I have raised before my concerns about the Bellwin scheme—the threshold at which central Government support comes in to help local authorities hit by flooding. In Cornwall council’s case, the existing Bellwin scheme has a threshold of 0.2%, which is currently £1.41 million, as the amount it must defray before any assistance is forthcoming from central Government. This scheme is outdated and does not seem to make any allowance for the new unitary authorities. If Cornwall still had a two-tier local authority system, that threshold would be just £58,000. That, coupled with tight rules limiting funding to the additional costs incurred in dealing with the immediate emergency only, basically means that the likelihood of an emergency incurring eligible expenditure greater than the threshold is now significantly less than if the two-tier were still in place. We need to modernise and update the Bellwin scheme. Cornwall is also a fire and rescue authority, but the scheme does not factor in those parts of the country where the principal local authority is on a unitary basis and also the fire and rescue authority.

I turn to the final reason why I would like my right hon. Friend to investigate whether the Bellwin scheme can be reconsidered. Why is the dedicated schools grant used in the calculation of when a threshold is reached by a local authority? It is another instance of where the Bellwin scheme has not kept pace with the change in how local government across our nation is administered. At the moment, Cornwall council estimates repair costs of £2.5 million on the highways alone. When flooding occurs, it is not only a threat to life, but it destroys homes, wrecks businesses and leaves a significant clear-up operation in its wake, and that operation often falls to the local authority to fund.

The biggest Christmas present for all those across the country facing flooding risk would be to ensure that, as we go into next year, flood insurance is available and affordable, and that, when floods hit, local authorities have the support they need from the House and the Government to ensure that the clean-up can happen in the swiftest possible way.

Guy Opperman (Hexham) (Con)

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Northumberland has much that it could teach the rest of Britain. My constituency is home to a vast number of civic groups, charities and volunteer organisations and people who give up their time to get involved, help their communities and improve people’s lives. They are passionate about the place in which they live. From the team in Tarset who organised the first oil-buying groups, pioneered a bastle trail and created the famous Murray henge, to Joan Russell, who runs her fantastic community allotment in Prudhoe, and Tom Martin, who led the creation of a community orchard in Wylam, there is a real sense of engagement, of getting involved and of local people creating the community they want.

Of all the places in the country that would engage in the concept, spirit and actuality of localism, this is the place. Indeed, when the previous Labour Government wanted to get rid of the district councils and move to a single unitary authority, the people robustly said that they would like to keep Tynedale and Castle Morpeth. The Labour Government famously held a consultation, complete with referendum, lost it and pressed on regardless. As a result, we now have Northumberland county council in its current form.

The Conservative party manifesto in 2010 promised specifically that

“people in each neighbourhood will be able to”

choose

“what kind of development they want”.

In 2010, I found that that commitment to localism resonated loud and clear with local voters, who wanted a better kind of local politics. Very rarely if ever do Government know best on local issues. For the first time since Queen Victoria sat on the throne—not dissimilar to you, Mr Deputy Speaker—this Government’s Localism Act 2011 saw real power going from Government back to the people, putting into reverse gear 100 years of centralisation. My simple phrase is: “Trust the people”. The Localism Act 2011 did just that.

Planning is the key aspect of the 2011 Act. It is most welcome for its transformation of the process that people have to deal with. We ripped up the previous top- down regional spatial strategy, which was a Westminster-enforced, target-driven system, which in any event failed to produce any houses, with the lowest house building since 1929. To deliver the change, a local development plan is required from each local authority. The plans will be crucial to deciding planning applications. The Government guidance is that local plans must be in accordance with section 20 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 and the national planning policy framework. The only mandate is that the authority must complete a plan. Already, 48 local plans have been adopted since May 2011, and more than 65% of councils in the country have published a plan for public consultation. Those are accompanied by more than 100 smaller neighbourhood plans. The vast city of Manchester, for example, went from start to finish in less than 18 months, finishing in the summer of 2012.

Bob Blackman

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The process of local plans is key for local people participating in democracy. Does my hon. Friend agree that it is quite wrong for any councils to drag their feet on this, postponing the process of getting democracy into planning at a local level?

Guy Opperman

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I entirely agree. It does not really matter which political party is in charge of the local authority. I am criticising Northumberland county council, which happens to be Liberal Democrat in its persuasion, but I would still be criticising it if it were Conservative or Labour. It is a question of competence and leadership, organisation and logistics; it is not about money. Lots of authorities up and down the country have been able to sort this out over an 18-month period—we should bear it in mind that authorities have up to three years to do so. Otherwise, 65% would not have gone down this track.

Everybody knows that the plans have to be completed by spring 2013. Indeed, I was present when the then Communities and Local Government Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Robert Neill), came to Stannington in Northumberland in August 2011 and met NCC planning officers and developers. He stressed the need for NCC planning officers to press on with their plan. It is not as if the local authority has not been warned. It appears certain that Northumberland will now not complete its plan by the March 2013 deadline. I have had that confirmed to me in person by senior councillors and it is an open secret at county hall. Indeed, it appears that the situation is worse: the plan might not be produced and finalised before 2014.

The county council’s failure to deliver the local plan will be an unmitigated disaster for Northumberland. The law is absolutely clear. If a planning authority has an up-to-date local plan, with identified sites to meet five years of objectively assessed need, it has all the powers it needs to resist speculative applications for development. However, if an authority does not have a plan in place or even a draft plan containing an objective assessment of housing needs and identifying five years of developable, deliverable sites, it runs the risk of speculative planning applications from developers and its decisions being overturned on appeal. As the Minister with responsibility for planning, my hon. Friend the Member for Grantham and Stamford (Nick Boles), told the House on 7 November 2012, an authority with a local development plan has nothing to fear from the Planning Inspectorate.

The Liberal Democrat county council’s failure will, I sadly suggest, be a green light for developers to run amok—in Ponteland, in Darras Hall, in New Ridley, in Ovingham and possibly in the west of Hexham. All those applications are mooted and the list is growing every month. Nor do we have minerals or renewables plans as part of the local development plan. That makes it hard to resist applications to do open-cast mining on green belt land, and our landscape is being affected by the random development of wind farms with little consideration of the cumulative impact.

I am not against development; far from it. I see the need for more houses. I have supported developments at the police headquarters in Ponteland, on the Prudhoe hospital site, and in villages such as Allendale. I must be the chief advocate for house building on the redundant Stannington hospital site. I even brought the developer to Westminster to meet a Minister from the Department for Communities and Local Government, to try to make it more likely that that development could happen in a sustainable way.

In the past, I have been harsh in my criticism of developers and big business seeking to cash in on the council’s slow progress in delivering a local plan. Perhaps that is just the old socialist in me, but I do not believe that the market always knows best. However, I am all too aware that Northumberland county council is the architect of all our problems. By failing to create a local plan, it is failing Northumberland. I do not blame the staff at county hall, who are as bright and capable as those at any county hall in the land. I do not blame the squeeze on council budgets, as more than 50 other councils have delivered a plan. A comparison with the other authorities shows that that is not the issue. This is an issue of competence, leadership, management and organisation.

The situation is not satisfactory; it is divisive. Worst of all, it creates a sense that democracy is not working, that big business holds all the cards and that the protector of local people’s rights, the local authority, is failing them. I am helping local people all I can, but as the county council is stuck in the slow lane, I must ask the Deputy Leader of the House whether there is anything the Government can do to aid that incompetent administration. How can we ensure that cumulative impact is considered so that applications are not treated in isolation, creating a patchwork quilt of development with no real thought to its impact on local people? How do people challenge developers when local authorities are not prepared to fight challenges to their local decisions which are appealed?

I know that, if we had a local plan, we would have the tools to fight, and the local will to create a sustainable Northumberland, created by the people, for the people, and with appropriate development for the people. The sad fact is that there is a fundamental lack of leadership to drive things forward and get things done. To say that there was better leadership on the Titanic would be unfair—accurate perhaps, but unfair. An expedited plan would provide a way forward. Without one, I fear for my county, and I fear the sense of unfairness that local people will feel. That cannot be good for sustained locally driven development, and it is not good for democracy.

Sir Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD)

- Hansard - - Excerpts

These are difficult times for local councils, and with further financial constraints confronting them, I pay tribute to the councillors of all political persuasions and officers who find themselves in ever more difficult situations. This is not an experience that I faced as a council leader, but one thing I do understand is the importance of ensuring that public money is not wasted or used for purposes that are inappropriate for a local authority or ultra vires under local government legislation.

In the hope that the Department for Communities and Local Government will pursue the matter with vigour, I bring to the House’s attention the extraordinary situation involving the former leader of Essex county council, whose exploits have been much publicised in recent weeks in local newspapers and on local radio, and in some national newspapers. It has been revealed that, from March 2005 to January 2010, he spent £287,000 using the council tax payer-funded credit card that he had been issued. That equates to a rate of more than £1,000 every week for five years, all tax free. Items of expenditure included 62 overseas visits to such places as Uganda, New Zealand, China and the United States—not places normally associated with the local government activity of Essex county council—often accompanied by council officers and councillors.

I can now reveal, thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request that I made to the council, that the same leader first had a credit card issued in “mid-2002”. On the assumption that his spending pattern in the years from 2002 onwards was the same as that in the five years following the first published item on 9 March 2005—£89.21 for a lunch at the Barda restaurant in Chelmsford for the leader and an unnamed county councillor—it is likely that the leader’s credit card spending to fund his lifestyle of expensive tastes in the UK and overseas, paid for by Essex council tax payers, was in the region of £450,000. His last entry, funded by the good people of Essex, was on 27 January 2010 when, with an unnamed county councillor, he billed £77 for lunch at the Loch Fyne restaurant in Chelmsford. Last week, a motion was put forward at a meeting of Essex county council in respect of the credit card bills of the former leader, who resigned from the council in 2010, but it was not agreed.

I can perhaps best describe what happened by quoting distinguished journalist Mr Simon Heffer, who is a council tax payer in Essex, from his column in the Daily Mail of Saturday 15 December:

“Tory-controlled Essex County Council decided this week not to sue their disgraced former leader…for the £287,000 of ratepayers’ money he spent flying around the world with cronies and dining in style. This is a rash move. In four and a half months, the council is up for re-election. I am appalled that Essex Tories have such a cavalier view of financial accountability. Anyone who votes to put them back into office next May is mad. Did they take this view…because some of them, too, have things on their conscience?”

Simon Heffer may say that; I could not possibly comment.

In fairness, the current leader is a breath of fresh air. He was issued with a credit card on taking over in May 2010, and it was cancelled in August 2011 having never been used. That shows how much the previous leader abused his position and took Essex council tax payers to the tune of circa £450,000 to fund his expensive tastes and lifestyle. It is also fair to say that a new broom at county hall has ensured that new procedures will not allow such a situation to happen again, but it is not enough to clear up the stables—although pigsty might be a more appropriate description.

What has happened needs to be investigated. As the council is not prepared to have an independent investigation—I believe that is important; otherwise all county councillors will be tarred with the same brush—it must be for central Government to do so. Unless there is an independent inquiry, the stench will remain. That is not in the interest of Essex county council, its councillors and officers—a whitewash is not acceptable.

It is difficult to believe that the former leader was able for eight years to live the life of Riley paid for by Essex council tax payers, without others knowing. After all, many of the credit card bills refer to the leader being accompanied more often than not by officers and councillors. Why did the internal audit not notice the monthly credit card payments and ask questions? Why did the external audit not notice and ask questions?

On 17 October last year, a council spokesman said:

“All employee expenses are subject to audit and public scrutiny”—

but not, presumably, those of the former leader. How is it that the entire finance department and line management within it, leading in due course right into the office of the chief executive, did not notice and draw attention to it? Or is it the case, as has been put to me, that some people did try, but that there was a climate of fear and bullying at county hall? People were afraid to speak out for fear of losing their jobs. This attitude was not confined to the leader, as some councillors and some senior officers were involved. Only an independent inquiry can get into that barrel of apples to identify any rotten ones that are still in place.

I have been advised by a lawyer that he is prepared, at no personal cost to himself, to look at the paperwork and help draft a claim against the council and its officers for an apparent, and I quote,

“breach in fiduciary duty to Essex ratepayers who are owed the opportunity to see these matters rectified.”

It is said that the credit card records from 2002 to 2005 have been destroyed, but I believe the council’s records should still show the total credit card sums claimed by the former leader, even if the individual items cannot be listed. Perhaps the credit card company’s records exist, which an independent inquiry could look at.

The roll-call of countries visited by the former leader between 2005 and 2010 could well make him Britain’s most travelled politician. At 62 visits, that is probably more than the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary, and it is certainly not what one would expect of the leader of a local authority. Usually with at least one officer, his Cook’s tour reads as follows: United States of America, eight times; Belgium, 15 times; Poland, twice; Croatia and Sri Lanka, twice; Cyprus, Bulgaria and Austria, three times; France, three times; Slovakia and Italy, three times; China, six times; Hungary, Germany, Holland and India, three times; Australia, New Zealand, Uganda, Hong Kong and Finland, twice; Vietnam, Albania and the Bahamas, ending with his last overseas trip to Canada. In December 2005 Essex council tax payers funded the leader, a councillor and an officer to attend the winter Olympics in Italy at a cost of circa £1,400.

Perhaps an example of the leader’s extravagance is a visit he made, accompanied by a council officer, to Hungary on 17 May 2006 for a one-day meeting described as the “First Assembly of European Regions”. Putting to one side the fact that the wonderful county of Essex is not a region, which begs the question why he was there in the first place, the visit was stretched out over a total of five days and involved staying in three separate hotels—two in Budapest, which is 230 km distant from where the one-day conference was held, one of them five-star, with the other described as “art-nouveau extravagance” and “the World’s most famous spa”—having expensive meals at restaurants and hiring a car. This is a grand total, including flights, of £1,530.

Other interesting entries, completely contrary to local government rules and expenditure legitimacy, relate to the council leader using his credit card to pay for attendance at Conservative party conferences for himself and up to three officers of Essex county council, including their travel and hotel accommodation costs. One of his popular watering holes was an establishment in Chelmsford called Muddy Waters where in December 2007 he treated county officers to a meal, paid for by council tax payers, which came to £736. In July 2008, he claimed £42.94 for a Little Chef breakfast. I know that the Little Chef Olympian breakfast is good, but I think customers can get four for the price he paid, as he pigged himself into some sort of record book. Another interesting item is the £327.50 he paid for

“gifts purchased for Transformation Awayday”

from the Crooked House gallery in Lavenham, Suffolk.

That list surely in itself comprises an appalling betrayal of the people of Essex by the then leader of the council, but I must now refer to a further abuse. Throughout this period, the leader was also based at another establishment for which five full-time employees of Essex county council had security passes. A sixth, listed as his secretary in the directory of this other establishment, was actually based at county hall, and taxpayers paid all the office costs. When not on council business, the leader was frequently chauffeured here and there at all times of the day and into the early hours by a car and driver provided by the council. The five council officers were providing services that were not part and parcel of the leader’s position with Essex county council, but the council tax payers of Essex were paying all the costs. It is difficult to estimate what they amounted to over what was an eight-year period.

Business of the House

Guy Opperman Excerpts

Thursday 25th October 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

The hon. Gentleman may like to look at the composition of clinical commissioning groups with great care. They combine managerial and clinical expertise, and he should not diminish the importance of clinicians being directly involved in the commissioning process. Securing the right medical and clinical services for patients in an area is not simply a managerial task; it is both managerial and clinical.

[Guy Opperman (Hexham) (Con)]

May we have a debate on equal pay for women? That request arises first out of yesterday’s landmark decision on the issue by the Supreme Court, but also because county councils up and down the country are facing a problem caused by a failure to pay the women they have employed over the years. In Northumberland, for example, hundreds of my constituents face a five-year delay to be paid.

[Mr Lansley]

The Government very much support equal pay—yesterday’s decision seemed a bit of a “Made in Dagenham” moment, did it not? Although the circumstances of that case are particular to it and relate to time limits and jurisdiction, I hope that it conveys a message about how to ensure equality and equal pay in every work force, which should be in every employer’s mind.

House of Lords Reform Bill

Guy Opperman Excerpts

Tuesday 10th July 2012 Commons Chamber

[Ms Eagle]

I agree with the right hon. Gentleman. I support replacing the current House of Lords with a wholly elected second Chamber. At the last election I stood on a manifesto that contained a commitment to legislate for a wholly elected second Chamber. On all the occasions when the Commons has considered Lords reform in the 20 years I have been a Member of this House, I have always voted for a democratically elected second Chamber, unlike everyone on both Front Benches. It is a matter of principle for me that those who legislate should always bring a democratic mandate to the task.

The Labour party is committed to an elected second Chamber, which is why we will vote for one tonight when we support the Bill on Second Reading. We will do so despite our reservations about the Government’s current proposals, which I will turn to in a moment. The Government’s decision to withdraw the programme motion today is a victory for Parliament. Although we will support the Bill’s Second Reading, we could not have supported the Government’s attempts to curtail debate with a programme motion. We welcome the fact that they have faced up to this reality and withdrawn the motion.

[Guy Opperman (Hexham) (Con)]

Yesterday the shadow Justice Secretary was asked four times how long the Opposition would require to consider the Bill. Will the hon. Lady enlighten the House on how long the Opposition require now?

[Ms Eagle]

I think that the Bill has many controversial elements—

[Guy Opperman]

How long?

[Ms Eagle]

I am trying to give the hon. Gentleman an answer that befits the scale of the issues we face, rather than answer a silly question in the way he asked it.

As I was saying, we need to ensure that the Bill has proper scrutiny, because it would replace a wholly appointed second Chamber with an elected one. It would not have been right for the Government to limit the time that a democratically elected House can spend debating proposals to extend democracy. The Opposition believe that it is important that Parliament, not simply the Executive, is in control of the debates on the Bill. We believe that every part of the Bill needs proper scrutiny, because under the terms of the Parliament Acts it is possible that this Bill, as it leaves this House, will be the one that makes it on to the statute book. That makes it absolutely imperative, in our view, that all parts of the Bill are effectively scrutinised here.

Ministerial Code (Culture Secretary)

Guy Opperman Excerpts

Wednesday 13th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Bridgen]

rose—

[Guy Opperman (Hexham) (Con)]

rose—

[Ms Harman]

I will proceed, if I may.

Despite the interventions, I know that Members in all parts of the House regard the question of truth, accuracy and full disclosure to Parliament as fundamental. We cannot settle for anything less if we are to hold Ministers to account. Putting it at its very lowest, there is prima facie evidence that the Secretary of State failed to give accurate and truthful information to the House.

On 3 March 2011—[Interruption.] I ask hon. Members to bear with me while I set out what I believe to be the facts at issue. On 3 March 2011, in reply to the hon. Member for Banbury (Tony Baldry), the Secretary of State told the House that in respect of his handling of the Murdoch bid for BSkyB he had published

“all the documents relating to all the meetings—all the consultation documents, all the submissions we received, all the exchanges between my Department and News Corporation.”—[Official Report, 3 March 2011; Vol. 524, c. 526.]

I have here the documents that he published on that day. Many of them, such as written ministerial statements, the European intervention notice and press releases from the European Commission, were already in the public domain.

But when the Murdochs came to give evidence to the Leveson inquiry, we discovered that all the exchanges had not been published. No: there had been literally hundreds of exchanges between the Secretary of State’s Department and News Corporation that he had not published. Over the course of many months, both when the bid was the responsibility of the Business Secretary and when it was his responsibility, there had been literally hundreds of exchanges—texts, e-mails, reports of phone calls—none of which had been disclosed to this House. So while on 3 March 2011 we were told that the pile was only this big, a full year later, on 24 April, and thanks only to the Leveson inquiry, we discovered that it was this big. Even though the Secretary of State says that he did not know of the volume and content of the exchanges between his special adviser and News Corporation, he did know of their existence, because, as he told the House on 25 April, he had authorised those exchanges.

There is a second occasion where there is prima facie evidence of the Secretary of State not being accurate and truthful to the House. In answer to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for East Lothian (Fiona O’Donnell) during his statement to the House on 25 April, he said that he

“made absolutely no interventions seeking to influence a quasi-judicial decision that was at that time the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Business.”—[Official Report, 25 April 2012; Vol. 543, c. 973.]

But it emerged during evidence to the Leveson inquiry that on 19 November 2010, when it was—

Business of the House

Guy Opperman Excerpts

Thursday 1st March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

The answer to the first half of the hon. Gentleman’s question is no. However, I will make some inquiries of the Secretary of State for Defence seeking confirmation that the contract has not been let if, as the hon. Gentleman says, it is still subject to consultation, and I will ask my right hon. Friend to write to him.

[Guy Opperman (Hexham) (Con)]

Police Constable David Rathband passed away last night. He was an outstanding Northumbria police constable, and I know that I speak for all local north-east colleagues when I say that this brave man will be sorely missed. Will my right hon. Friend join me in passing on our condolences to his family and to the police colleagues he worked with and who continue to serve our region so well?

[Sir George Young]

The whole House will endorse what my hon. Friend has said following the tragic death of David Rathband, who lost his sight bravely risking life and limb to arrest a suspect. I applaud what he did subsequently, having lost his sight, in setting up the Blue Lamp Foundation, and also becoming internationally renowned for the way he responded to the challenges that he had to face. I endorse what my hon. Friend said about his tragic loss and extend our sympathies to his friends and family.