Speech in Lords Chamber - Tue 22 Oct 2019 Queen’s Speech
"My Lords, I declare my interests as a vice-president of the LGA and chair of the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership; and I am still an elected councillor for Wigan.
I was not going to talk about local government finance today; I have bored this House often enough …..." Lord Smith of Leigh - View Speech
"My Lords, I declare an interest as chairman of the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership. There is much to welcome in this White Paper’s implementation—after all, a lot of the ideas were taken from Greater Manchester in the first place so we are pleased about that. We are …..." Lord Smith of Leigh - View Speech
"My Lords, I declare my interests as a member and former leader of Wigan Council, and as a vice-president of the LGA. I welcome the Statement, for two reasons. First, it is an admission by the Government that austerity has damaged the north and the Midlands much more than any …..." Lord Smith of Leigh - View Speech
"My Lords, I declare my interest as a member of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and leader of Wigan Council. I must also declare that, in 2014, I was part of the team discussing the devolution deal with the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, which ended up being …..." Lord Smith of Leigh - View Speech
"My Lords, I too welcome this timely debate, which has been initiated by my noble friend. I declare an interest as yet another vice-president of the LGA—that makes three of us so far, and our president has spoken. I am also leader of Wigan Council and chairman of the Greater …..." Lord Smith of Leigh - View Speech
"My Lords, I thank everyone for their contribution to the debate today. I think there was an overwhelming consensus on the scale of the problem. Considerable expertise and knowledge were shown. As the Minister reflected on, there were obviously criticisms of government, but they were criticisms of outcomes. There were …..." Lord Smith of Leigh - View Speech
"That this House takes note of the impact of Her Majesty’s Government’s policies on the availability and affordability of housing...." Lord Smith of Leigh - View Speech
"My Lords, this is a timely debate for this House and I am grateful for the number of noble Lords who have expressed an interest in participating. I am sure that we will have a lively and interesting debate, and I see that we have a Minister who has considerable …..." Lord Smith of Leigh - View Speech
"My Lords, in thanking my noble friend for securing this debate I must apologise to him for missing his first sentence. I was coming down on a train today and unfortunately it, like the Government, had a loss of power. Fortunately for Virgin Trains, the loss of power was only …..." Lord Smith of Leigh - View Speech
"My Lords, I need to begin by declaring my interests in local government: I am the leader of Wigan Council, a vice-president of the LGA, a vice-chair of SIGOMA, chairman of the Greater Manchester health partnership board and a member of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.