Draft Byelaws (Alternative Procedure) (England) Regulations 2015

Jamie Reed Excerpts

Thursday 15th October 2015 General Committees

[Mr Reed]

I thank the Minister for his introduction, but I still consider the legislation to be pretty weedy. It makes such small changes that I wonder whether it even merits the cost and time that has gone into putting it together and bringing it here. Whether the legislation originated from a previous Government or the current Government does not matter much to me if it does not do what it could do. The present Government are bringing it forward, not the Government who left office over five years ago.

By allowing a difference to continue between the powers over local government and other authorities in England and their equivalents in Wales, the Government are showing and saying that they do not trust local authorities in England as much as they do those in Wales. That seems a bizarre position to entrench in legislation, but it seems to me to be all of a piece with a Government who like to talk local but act central because they are too timid to act on what they say they want to do. I wish they would find the courage sometimes to just let go and let things happen.

In the grand scheme of things, byelaws are not incredibly significant pieces of legislation. They are certainly important where they operate, but we ought to be able to trust local government enough to take decisions about the very restricted areas in which they are able to operate. They should not have to have the approval of the big boss sitting in Whitehall for every little decision that they take. Giving communities a bigger role is always welcome, but that will not happen with these regulations.

The Secretary of State’s role has been moved from giving approval after the public consultation to giving it before the public consultation. The point is that the Secretary of State’s role is still firmly entrenched in the process and byelaw legislation cannot proceed without his consent. Shifting his role from one point in the process to another is not localising the decision; it still has to go through the Secretary of State in Whitehall, which is a shame.

In Wales, the Local Government Byelaws (Wales) Act 2012 removed the Secretary of State and the Welsh Government from any role in the passage of byelaws in the Principality. Regrettably, in 2012 the UK Government took the case to the Supreme Court to try to prevent such an act of localism from applying in Wales, just as they do not intend to grant permission for it in England; happily, they lost. On that basis, I would have thought that the Minister might have reconsidered the nature of the regulations and perhaps sought to remove entirely from the framework that he outlined the role of the Secretary of State in the passage of byelaws, except perhaps in the case of a local authority disregarding or not taking into account significant objections from local people affected.

The regulations could have done a lot more than they currently will. Even worse, they are directly contradictory to the localist credentials that the Government like to claim for themselves.