National Trust Acts

Lord Swire Excerpts

Tuesday 21st January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Tyrie (Non-Afl)]

My Lords—

[Lord Swire (Con)]

My Lords—

[Captain of the King’s Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard and Deputy Chief Whip (Baroness Wheeler) (Lab)]

My Lords, it is the turn of the noble Lord.

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

The governance and the focus of the work of the National Trust is a matter for its council, not for government. I personally and the Government do not have an issue with the running of the National Trust. If any noble Lords have concerns about it, they should note that any issues around its compliance with its charitable purposes should be made to the Charity Commission. I repeat that the National Trust is the biggest conservation charity in Europe. It opens up our countryside and heritage, including diverse buildings—from Paul McCartney’s childhood home to Cliveden and Chartwell—and, as has been noted, the Welsh coastline. Rather than bashing the institution, we should support it to continue with its strategy.

[Lord Swire (Con)]

My Lords, criticising some of the trends in the governance of the National Trust is not bashing the institution. I am a proud member of the National Trust; I think that it does excellent work, not least on the south-west coast path, which I walk regularly. However, there has been a trend to ignore a lot of criticism of the National Trust, and we must face it: introducing the quick vote system was an attempt by the National Trust to freeze out legitimate criticism by other members of the trust. There is increasing concern about how it has behaved over Holnicote in Exmoor, where it ignored the wishes of the Acland family, and what it has done about legal trail hunting, which goes beyond any legislation either House has introduced. There are now the issues that my noble friend Lord Lexden raised over Clandon. The Government should be concerned about this huge national institution that touches on all our lives.

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

I do not feel that the critics of the National Trust have been silenced; they have been quite vocal. The governance and the focus of the work of the trust is a matter for its 5 million members—more than the combined memberships of all political parties—rather than the Government. It is a sorry day when the Government start interfering in matters that are not to do with them, rather than leaving them to the charity and its members and governing bodies.