Devolution: England

Lord Shipley Excerpts

Tuesday 28th July 2020 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Shipley]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have for the further devolution of power and decision-making in England.

[Lord Shipley (LD) [V]]

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper. In doing so, I remind the House that I am a vice-president of the Local Government Association.

[The Minister of State, Home Office and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Lord Greenhalgh) (Con)]

We intend to publish the local recovery devolution White Paper in the autumn. This will set out our plans for expanding devolution across England, building on the success of our directly elected combined authority mayors. Our plans will involve introducing more elected mayors and giving them and existing mayors the powers that they need to lead economic recovery and long-term growth.

[Lord Shipley [V]]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for his reply. Does he agree that one major lesson of the Covid-19 pandemic is that centralised control of England has not worked well? Will he now confirm that the Government are not planning to impose a top-down reorganisation of local government across England but will consult on a system of devolution based on evidence, consent and democratic accountability for local communities and that this will not be a compulsory, standardised and centralised model?

[Lord Greenhalgh]

My Lords, there is no doubt that we share the same ambition to see further decentralisation and devolution over time. This is very much a process. I would not want to pre-empt the White Paper, but we have made a commitment to directly elected mayors as the point of accountability to lead economic recovery.