English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill

Debate between Jonathan Brash and Caroline Nokes

2nd reading
Tuesday 2nd September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Brash]

I agree that far greater powers are required to hold mayoral development corporations to account, and that may be one way of doing it.

The changes are not just about planning powers: publicly owned assets are being transferred from the council and other public bodies. When Labour councillors demanded that those assets, which include Hartlepool’s civic centre, would be returned to public ownership if they were not developed or if the corporation was wound up, that demand was refused. When we asked whether the council could resist this change, the advice was stark: we could not, there was no veto and it could not be stopped by the council. When the council voted against a mayoral development corporation just down the road in Middlesbrough, it was imposed on the town anyway.

Let me be clear that I am not opposed to the principle of development corporations. I was willing to support the one in Hartlepool in the spirit of cross-party co-operation, but the outcome has become confused, with zero accountability and residents left unclear about who to turn to, especially as more and more houses in multiple occupation pop up across our town centre, put there by an unelected, unaccountable company. This is not power in the hands of the people.

Devolution was supposed to mean decisions made closer to communities, but too often the reality is the opposite: power hoarded and pushed further away from the very neighbourhoods that are supposed to be empowered. That is why I support the We’re Right Here campaign, which asks that power does not stop at the mayor’s office but flows to the people themselves. It is championed by Hartlepool’s own community leader, Sacha Bedding. It is a way forward and I hope that Ministers are listening. We must ensure that there is accountability for mayors. They can be the vehicle for delivering for the public, but the power itself can lie only in one place: with the people.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

That brings us to the Front-Bench spokespeople. I call David Simmonds.

Immigration

Debate between Jonathan Brash and Caroline Nokes

Wednesday 21st May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Brash]

I wonder whether the hon. Gentleman can address the point I made in my speech. Repeatedly, Conservative Members, including him, have said, “If we had only waited a little bit longer, Rwanda would have worked.” Why do you think the right hon. Member for Richmond and Northallerton (Rishi Sunak) called the general election—

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

I don’t.

[Mr Brash]

I apologise, Madam Deputy Speaker. Why does the hon. Member think the right hon. Member for Richmond and Northallerton called the general election when he did, when he was apparently so close to the Rwanda scheme working?

Nuclear Industry: Cumbria

Debate between Jonathan Brash and Caroline Nokes

Monday 14th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Jonathan Brash (Hartlepool) (Lab)]

rose—

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

Order. Can I just check whether the hon. Member has given notice to the Member in charge and to the Minister of his intention to speak?

[Mr Brash]

indicated assent.

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

Thank you. I call Jonathan Brash.