Found: Departments—in particular, the Home Office but also the Local Government Department, although Michael Gove

Found: Departments—in particular, the Home Office but also the Local Government Department, although Michael Gove

Found: This was trailed by the reforms initiated by Michael Gove when Lord Chancellor and the evidence shows

Found: I know that, when he was Secretary of State for Justice, Michael Gove was interested in governor 20

Found: The UK, of course, particularly under Michael Gove, was looking in that direction.

Found: The UK, of course, particularly under Michael Gove, was looking in that direction.

Found: protesters surrounded the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities, at that time Michael Gove

Found: Q229 Richard Baker: It does, but the former Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Michael Gove, said

Found: In 2024 the then Secretary of State Michael Gove argued local councils were guilty of ‘crying wolf’

Found: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/benjamin-netanyahu-icc-prosecutor-israel- gaza-hamas-michael-gove-b1159144

Found: In May 2024 Michael Gove, then Secretary of State for Leveling Up, Housing and Communities, stated that

Found: chose to ignore the warning signs for decades. 2.3 In January 2023, former Housing Secretary Michael Gove

Found: In January 2023, former Housing Secretary Michael Gove accepted that “faulty and ambiguous” government

Found: informed about these resale terms at the time of buying the property. 24 See Secretary of State Michael Gove

Found: Following the implementation of RPDT, but before it had become payable, a new Housing Secretary, Michael Gove

Found: They go into some casework—we met with Michael Gove 6 September 2023, and he said he would do more,

Found: They go into some casework—we met with Michael Gove 6 September 2023, and he said he would do more,

Found: This was to be amendment of a bilateral treaty by two persons, one in London (Michael Gove for some

Found: This is why Michael Gove dropped the 5y HLS rule in December 2023.

Found: This was eventually recognised by Michael Gove leading to dropping the rule in December 2023.

Found: zahawi-take-children-into-care-when-any-inkling-of-harm/ 15 https://www.theguardian.com/society/2011/feb/22/michael-gove-relaunches-adoption-rules

Found: The Rt Hon Charles Clarke, and The Rt Hon Michael Gove Oral Evidence

Found: The Rt Hon Charles Clarke, and The Rt Hon Michael Gove Oral Evidence

Found: It was because Michael Gove was the Secretary of State, and he was judged—for totally understandable

Found: Michael Gove MP 1 Following the transfer of responsibility for elections policy from the Cabinet Office

Found: When Michael Gove gave evidence last week, he said that it was often more helpful finding out from

Found: When Michael Gove gave evidence last week, he said that it was often more helpful finding out from

Found: Michael Gove: No.

Found: Michael Gove: No.

Found: Michael Gove: It means, as I hope we were able to lay out in some detail in our Command Paper and the

Found: It had followed the particular Minister, who was Michael Gove.

Found: It had followed the particular Minister, who was Michael Gove.

Found: In addition, the Secretary of State himself, Michael Gove, had confirmed that stance in the same debate

Found: In addition, the Secretary of State himself, Michael Gove, had confirmed that stance in the same debate

Found: Hon Michael Gove MP, on the improvement of academic outcomes and attainment in mainstream schools

Found: Michael Gove My hon. Friend makes an important point.

Found: unsound Plan was adopted by that Council following pressure being placed on the Inspector by Michael Gove

Found: It remained there until 2021, when Michael Gove (who had been a Cabinet Office minister) took responsibility

Found: It moved to the local government department under Michael Gove and has now moved back to the Cabinet

Found: Minister is now considering whether to re-commence the process. 5.On 21 March 2024 Rt Hon Michael Gove

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, by what date he expects to have ceased badger culling.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This government will respect the advice of the widest range of expert advisers when considering the end of the badger cull.

There has not been a major bovine TB strategy review in nearly six years. The last was commissioned by the then Secretary of State Michael Gove and was carried out by Professor Sir Charles Godfray. It informs our starting point as we increase the effort to achieve bovine TB free status by 2038.

Found: with employers to get this right.”401 Sam Freedman was a policy advisor to Education Secretary, Michael Gove

Found: daily Number 10 press briefing on 4 April 2020, the then Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Michael Gove

Found: romot e British values in schools In June 2014, the then secretary of state for education, Michael Gove

Found: Michael Gove MP: Human Rights and Security Issues in Public Procurement of Surveillance Technology

Found: An Open Letter to The Rt Hon Michael Gove, The Rt Hon George Eustice, and Tony Juniper: Ensuring that

Found: reading on 28 June 2023, the then secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities, Michael Gove

Found: March 2023 on behalf of then -Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Michael Gove

Found: warning flags should not be seen as a substitute for safe working practice.” 3.2 Michael Gove

Found: with employers to get this right.”401 Sam Freedman was a policy advisor to Education Secretary, Michael Gove

Found: various iterations of predecessor bills (such as the Private Renters Bill) which was promoted by Michael Gove

Found: In October 2010, the then Education Secretary, Michael Gove, announced that the coalition government

Found: romot e British values in schools In June 2014, the then secretary of state for education, Michael Gove

Found: reading on 28 June 2023, the then secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities, Michael Gove

Found: return Nil return Amanda Milling Nil Return Nil return Nil return Nil return Nil return Nil return Michael Gove

Found: return Nil return Nil return Nil return Amanda Milling Nil return Nil return Nil return Nil return Michael Gove

Found: return Nil return Nil return Nil return Nil return Nil return Nil return Nil return Nil return Michael Gove

Found: 02/04/2020 National Farmers Union To discuss COVID-19 and EU Exit Michael Gove 03/04/2020 Unite

Found: Received Accompanied by Guest Value of Hospitality (£) Cabinet Office Pat McFadden 2024-12-03 Michael Gove

Found: Mahmood 2024-12-02 City of London Dinner No £100 Ministry of Justice Shabana Mahmood 2024-12-12 Michael Gove

Found: Minister Date Name of Individual or Organisation Purpose of Meeting Michael Gove Nil Return Nil Return

Found: Our Ministers as at 31 March 20242 The Rt Hon Michael Gove MP Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing

Found: Our Ministers as at 31 March 20242 The Rt Hon Michael Gove MP Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing

Found: Our Ministers as at 31 March 2024 2 The Rt Hon Michael Gove MP Lee Rowley MP Secretary of State for

Found: Windrush Commemoration Committee 4 5 Message from Secretary of State Rt Hon Michael Gove

Found: On 23 May 2024, the previous Secretary of State, the Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, directed, in pursuance

Found: Michael Gove used to call this ‘the soft bigotry of low expectations’ and with good reason: he was right

Found: Michael Gove), appointed Kim Bromley Derry CBE DL as Lead Inspector, and Suki Binjal, Sir John Jenkins

Found: On 20 June 2022, the previous Secretary of State , the Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, directed in pursuance

Found: On 12 April 2021 , the previous Secretary of State , Michael Gove MP, directed, in pursuance of Section

Found: being classed as BMV. 198 Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and The Rt Hon Michael Gove

Found: Michael Gove MP Secretary of State Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities 2 Marsham

Found: Michael Gove MP) made a Written Ministerial Statement titled ‘The Next Stage in Our Long Term Plan for

Found: Communities a nd Local Government (Mr Eric Pickles) and the Secretary of State for Education (Mr Michael Gove

Found: Individual or Organisation that offered hospitality Type of Hospitality Received Accompanied by Guest Michael Gove

Found: 20230707163217004.p df 15 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/letter-from-lord-evans-to-rt-hon-michael-gove-mp-about

Found: tah245 Wolf report In his Foreword to the Wolf report, Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove

Found: of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, No.10 - ACOBA advice Advice to Rt Hon Michael Gove

Found: Website: http://www.gov.uk/acob a S eptember 2024 B USINESS APPOINTMENT APPLICATION: The Rt Hon Michael Gove

Found: The Baroness Browning The Rt Hon Michael Gove MP

Found: The Baroness Browning The Rt Hon Michael Gove MP cc John Witherow, Editor, The Times

Found: The Baroness Browning The Rt Hon Michael Gove MP

Found: Website: http://www.gov.uk/acob a S eptember 2024 B USINESS APPOINTMENT APPLICATION: The Rt Hon Michael Gove

Found: call for evidence In early 2023 the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Michael Gove

Found: Michael Gove), appointed Kim Bromley Derry CBE DL as Lead Inspector, and Suki Binjal, Sir John Jenkins

Found: Croydon Borough Council Improvement and Assurance Panel: Letter dated 25/04/2024 to Michael Gove MP -

Found: Croydon Borough Council Improvement and Assurance Panel: Letter dated 25/04/2024 to Michael Gove MP -

Found: Croydon Borough Council Improvement and Assurance Panel: Letter dated 25/04/2024 to Michael Gove MP -

Found: Hon Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Intergovernmental

Found: where every child is loved and cared for, and thus I welcome your 70/30 strategy …’ Rt Hon Michael Gove

Found: Scottish Government St Andrew's House Regent Road Edinburgh EH1 3DG Dear Humza, Rt Hon Michael Gove

Found: Our ref: MC2023/03961) Dear Shona Robison MSP, Please find attached a response from Rt Hon Michael Gove

Found: Scottish Government St Andrew's House Regent Road Edinburgh EH1 3DG Dear Humza, Rt Hon Michael Gove

Found: are delivered most effectively by the UKG Minister responsible for intergovernmental relations, Michael Gove

Found: • 14 Mar: Michael Gove formally announced scheme offering UK households £350pm to open homes for at

Found: • 14 Mar: Michael Gove formally announced scheme offering UK households £350pm to open homes for at

Found: Special Adviser) Mairi.Mcallan@gov.scot Subject: RE: urgent: Response from CSFEFW to the Rt Hon Michael Gove

Found: All minutes, notes and briefings prepared for and after Humza Yousaf's meeting with Michael Gove at

Found: information for verification purposes without recourse to a third party. 22 Letter to The Right Hon Michael Gove

Found: All minutes, notes and briefings prepared for and after Humza Yousaf's meeting with Michael Gove at the

Found: BRITISH IRISH COUNCIL – 23/24 NOVEMBER 2023 MEETING WITH UKG SECRETARY OF STATE, RT HON MICHAEL GOVE

Found: Biodiversity Lorna Slater MSP T: 0300 244 4000 E: scottish.ministers@gov.scot Rt Hon Michael Gove

Found: you will be writing to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Rt Hon Michael Gove

Found: I also note the letter dated 13 November from Rt Hon Michael Gove MP , Secretary of State for Levelling

Found: Email – For policy views - media query - Inverclyde letter to Michael Gove – PA – 1 March 2024

Found: Michael Gove has also named Mend as an extremist group.

Found: Nuffield Trust • Richard Horton, Editor in Chief of the Lancet, a medical journal and author • Michael Gove

Found: the UKG announcement in the Sunday Mail, please see attached letter received today from Rt Hon Michael Gove

Found: Transport Fiona Hyslop MSP T: 0300 244 4000 E: scottish.ministers @gov.scot  Michael Gove

Found: Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations - Rt Hon Michael Gove

Found: the UK) Section 30(b)(i) (provision of free and frank advice) 8 Meeting between DFM and Michael Gove

Found: Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations – Rt Hon Michael Gove

Found: Dobson, Special Adviser, Scottish Government • GS said MM’s joint letter with Julie James to Michael Gove

Found: ISSUES ISLANDS – concerns that islands would have restrictions removed first: On 29 April, Michael Gove

Found: I also note the letter dated 13 November from Rt Hon Michael Gove MP , Secretary of State for Levelling

Found: 2024, SB 24-37 9The Q1 2024 intergovernmental activity update noted that a letter by the Rt Hon Michael Gove

Found: agreed a joint statement andwrote to the Minister for Intergovernmental Relations , the Rt Hon Michael Gove

Found: Minister James Davies, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State 2023-10-11 00:00:00 Cyfarfod/Meeting Michael Gove

Found: Cancer Research UK / Record message for Cancer Research UK 2022-06-15 00:00:00 Cyfarfod/Meeting Michael Gove

Found: Partneriaeth Cymdeithasol / Shadow Social Partnership Council 2022-02-10 00:00:00 Cyfarfod/Meeting Michael Gove

Found: Well-being Economy, Fair Work & Energy, Scottish Government 2023-07-25 00:00:00 Cyfarfod/Meeting Rt Hon Michael Gove

Found: Day 2024-04-22 00:00:00 Cyfweliad/Interview Y Wasg / Media 2024-04-24 00:00:00 Cyfarfod/Meeting Michael Gove

Found: Minsiter for Climate Change and The Crown Estate 2023-06-15 00:00:00 Cyfarfod/Meeting Cyfarfod gyda Michael Gove

Found: 14 00:00:00 Cyfarfod/Meeting Welsh Government Envoy 2021-07-14 00:00:00 Cyfarfod/Meeting Rt Hon Michael Gove

Found: Cyfarfod/Meeting Ben Burggraaf, CEO for Net Zero Industry Wales 2023-01-16 00:00:00 Cyfarfod/Meeting Michael Gove

Found: -18 00:00:00 Cyfarfod/Meeting Northern Ireland Executive 2021-11-18 00:00:00 Cyfarfod/Meeting Michael Gove

Found: mechanisms In writing to Lord Dunlop in March 2021, the then Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Michael Gove

Found: of state and government Ministers from Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair to David Cameron and Michael Gove

Found: Item 2: meeting with the Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Found: On the 24 June 2021, the Counsel General wrote to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Michael Gove

Found: I am copying this letter to Michael Gove in his capacity as Minister for Intergovernmental Relations

Found: June 2022, the Minister for the Economy wrote to the former Levelling- Up Secretary of State, Michael Gove

Found: Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations the Rt Hon Michael Gove

Found: for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs Ein cyf/Our ref: IM/LG/05480/19 6 March 2019 Rt Hon Michael Gove

Found: Lord Gardiner DC-LG-01673-17 Signed Cabinet Secretary Letter.pdf March 2019 – Minister to Michael Gove

Found: Gwledig Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs Ein cyf/Our ref IM/LG/06072/19 Rt Hon Michael Gove

Found: The document is a letter from the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Michael Gove

Found: In the new UK Government, oversight of common frameworks has transferred to Michael Gove as Secretary

Found: In 2010, Michael Gove as Education Secretary announced a partnership with Hanban, an institution under

Found: Deputy Peter Ferbrache, the Chief Minister of the Isle of Man Hon Alfred Cannan MHK, the Rt Hon Michael Gove

Found: It had been expected that the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, the Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, would

Found: Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove said: Wales has huge untapped potential, and that’s why we have worked

Found: for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations, Rt Hon Michael Gove

Found: The Summit Plenary session on Friday 11thNovember was Chaired by the Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, Secretary

Found: Rt Hon Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling Up and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations

Found: June 2022, I wrote to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Rt Hon Michael Gove

Found: was deeply disappointed when the Secretary of State for Housing, Levelling Up and Communities Michael Gove

Found: therefore deeply disappointed when the Secretary of State for Housing, Levelling Up and Communities Michael Gove

Found: was deeply disappointed when the Secretary of State for Housing, Levelling Up and Communities Michael Gove

Found: The UK Government’s Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Michael Gove said:

Found: Rt Hon Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling Up chaired this virtual Standing Committee meeting

Found: Over the weekend, the First Minister of Scotland and Iwrote to the Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, Secretary

Found: “It is not too late for the Secretary of State, Michael Gove, to offer a way forward based on co-design

Question

What discussions has the Welsh Government had with the UK Government about building safety following the statement on this issue on 10 January 2022 in the House of Commons by the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations?

Answered by Minister for Climate Change

As the Member will be aware, building safety forms part of the Co-operation Agreement between the Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru.

Rt Hon Michael Gove MP Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, wrote to the First Minister on January 10 2022 outlining his planned announcements. I will be replying to Mr Gove to seek clarity about his announcements.

We will continue to work closely with UK Government where our policies align. I have always committed to support buildings over 11m and recognised that the fire safety issues are not limited to cladding.

I have also stated the developers must step up and take responsibility for the buildings they constructed and the leaseholders should not have to pay. We support the firm stance being taken with developers and manufacturers and will be interested to learn how the Secretary of State plans to force developers to fund remediation if they do not do so willingly.

<p>I'd prefer to go a step further and get the same as Northern Ireland, but let's go all the way and get the same as Scotland.</p>
<p>Now, this is also the view—. About the stable settlement, this is also the view of the Williams and McAllister commission, which I think is a brilliant report. This is how it concluded:</p>
<p>'In relation to justice and policing and rail services the current settlement does not serve the people of Wales'—</p>
<p>we can all agree with that—</p>
<p>'Unless this is addressed, the problems will continue to fester, and it will appear that the UK Government is not willing to listen to a reasoned case for change. Reform is essential to ensure the viability and stability of the settlement.'</p>
<p>Do we still have a UK Government that's not willing to listen to a reasoned case for reform? Does Keir Starmer, does he look at the same book as Michael Gove and is fed up of experts? A devolution settlement that gives Wales the same devolved powers as Scotland not only provides Wales with equality and the respect due, but will make it more likely that we have better policy making across the United Kingdom. We heard yesterday in an answer to Rhun ap Iorwerth saying, 'Well, we can't compare ourselves to Scotland, because Scotland has different powers from us', but this would make it far easier for us to compare with each other and to have better policy.</p>
<p>It would also make it harder for United Government organisations to forget about Wales, because Wales is the forgotten nation. I'll never forget the former Lord Chief Justice saying that he used to take a map of Wales with him to Whitehall to remind Whitehall of our existence, because we're an afterthought at best when it comes to Whitehall.</p>

<p>Mike Hedges, as Chair of the LJC, Llywydd, rightly pointed out that the issue of timing, so that we could have a co-ordinated approach between the UK and the Welsh Government in tax relief, is what was driving our decision to bring matters ahead of the final Competition and Markets Authority assessment. It was a calculated risk and, I think, the wisdom of doing so was borne out when the CMA did not produce any adverse comments on the proposed regulations.</p>
<p>I thank Peter Fox for indicating the support of his group for these regulations. The free ports programme was a relatively rare example when the UK Government and the Welsh Government were able to agree on a way forward, so that, in Wales, free ports have a different and enhanced level of environmental protection and protection for workers’ rights, compared to free ports in England. That was an agreement between the Welsh Government and the Secretary of State at the time, Michael Gove, responsible for the free ports programme overall.</p>
<p>Once again, simply to reinforce the key point here, Llywydd,&nbsp;that the free port tax incentives, including the LTT relief, have been designed in order to help sites attract private investment and deliver the wider policy objectives of the free ports programme. They're an integral part of the way that we've agreed to go about all of this, and I ask Members to approve the regulations.</p>

<p>So, for me, there's no doubt that treatment has a place in a pathway, if you think about the pathway and get the pathway properly done. So, for some people, and NICE has given guidance around that, this will have a benefit. But most people who take Wegovy—sorry, that sounds like a Scotsman calling on Michael Gove, doesn't it? Wee Govey. Sorry. [<em>Laughter.</em>] Other drugs are available. Most people who go on these drugs put the weight back on because their food environment hasn't changed, their capability and their motivation hasn't changed. You can only go on them for two years. It's very expensive. It really is very expensive. If you do, particularly, some health economic analysis on the cost-benefit curve and the lifetime-benefit curve, you are looking at some of the most—. This is at the high end of affordability for outcome—cost per DALY, for example—if you factor everything in.</p>
<p>There are potential side effects. There are system consequences, because people with diabetes can't get them. We know that, for people who have got lots of fat on their liver, these drugs can be beneficial in terms of reducing inflammation and removing fat. But, if they can't get them, will it drive up the number of people who go on to develop liver disease that's avoidable because, actually, they can't get them?</p>
<p>So, for all of those reasons, you can't treat your way out of obesity and give the entire population—. You wouldn't ethically want to medicate an entire population anyway, would you? That would be unethical. So, it has a place, but it has to be a very clearly discerned, sensible place in a proper pathway, and it's not going to solve the problem. Because, in two years' time, you are going to have an awful lot of people coming off Wegovy or other drugs, putting the weight back on, and they will be exactly back where they started, and all we have done is delay the wave of ill health.</p>

<p>Well, fundamentally here, Chair, is the way that the Treasury, over many, many years, has regarded itself as judge and jury in these matters, and the Court of Appeal as well. So, we’ve long argued for a more rules-based system, and a system in which there is an independent element in the arbitration of any disputes. In the inter-governmental review, the one department that refused to have any element of independence looking into disputes was the Treasury, and it hung out to the extent that, in the end, Michael Gove and others put it to us that we couldn’t get that to happen and we signed up to an IGR that has independence in disputes with any other part of Government, but not the Treasury. There is a culture—whoever is in Government—within the Treasury that is one of exceptionalism, and our rules-based approach would erode that.</p>

<p>It is not ridiculous. Pro-nuclear weapons—. Do you need to keep on going?</p>
<p>What happens next? [<em>Interruption</em>.] What happens next? There is, as far as I can see, nothing in the rules to stop the debate happening every week until 2026. As the public are about to discover, Wednesday's debates are not binding on the Government. Just to remind Andrew Davies and Rhun—[<em>Interruption</em>.] Just to remind Andrew Davies and Rhun ap Iorwerth, you were both, just a few weeks ago, defeated by Vaughan Gething for the post of First Minister—remember that? A clear vote in favour of Vaughan Gething. If the Senedd votes to remove the First Minister, then my personal preference is a new Senedd election. Let the voters decide. Because a number of you over there may not be coming back, on the current boundaries. The only winner in debates such as this is the Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party. They approved it, they elect a First Minister and then vote to remove him a few weeks later.</p>
<p>There have been concerns expressed about the financial support Vaughan Gething had—all legal, all declared, all reported to everyone it had to be reported to. That the opposition don't like the person donating is well known.</p>
<p>Can I go to the text messages, because I was a major person in that? It was about using teachers' assessed grades, rather than using the algorithm, which—. Fortunately, we went to the right decision, despite the Cabinet spending a long time getting there, which I am severely disappointed in. Vaughan was protecting me. Do you want the truth of the matter? Jeremy Miles wanted to use an algorithm and to remove me as a Member of the Senedd for Swansea East—that is what was removed. It has nothing to with the COVID inquiry, but it was to protect individuals, including me. I don't care. That's what happened, and I'm prepared to fight my case, but it was an attempt to defend me, which I very much respect and like.</p>
<p>Can I just quote about one Conservative donor, because this is quite enlightening?&nbsp;</p>
<p>'I can get access via the Leaders Group. It is usually senior ministers and 15 or 20 people. Sometimes in person. Sometimes on Zoom. The last thing I attended was a lunch with Michael Gove in July. It was all donors who were there.'</p>
<p>'To become a member of the Leaders Group, you have to have donated £50,000 in the last year.</p>
<p>'Two to three lunches a week are arranged, to which around a dozen donors are invited.</p>
<p>'Groups don't tend to be bigger than this, to ensure all those who turn up get a chance to feel part of something that isn't impersonal.</p>
<p>'Some donors are very regular attendees, others don't come to any.</p>
<p>'Does this amount to buying access, and influence?'</p>
<p>I ask people to come to a conclusion on that. I think most of us actually think it is, and this idea of having a leaders group of people paying hundreds of thousands of pounds annually, not a one-off in an election, is fundamentally wrong. I think we really do need to clean up the donation system. And also we need to clean up our rivers. As somebody who's complained about the Wye and Usk being polluted, along with the Tawe, I'm sure the Conservatives will not accept any money from anybody who's polluting those.</p>

<p>Sure. So, it's a good question. I have a publication coming out this afternoon specifically on—[<em>Laughter</em>.] I haven't planted that. [<em>Laughter</em>.] But I have a blog post coming out this afternoon where I say, from tomorrow, we will have not only almost 50 per cent of England—by 2025, there'll be four new mayors, so more than 50 per cent, and that's—. But, from tomorrow morning, 50 per cent of England's GDP will come from areas led by a mayor. These mayors have no forum to meet with civil servants or Whitehall or the Prime Minister. They don't even have a forum to meet with Michael Gove, who is the Minister in charge of them. So, I have something coming out this afternoon saying that there should be a forum. But I think—. England is moving towards that more asymmetrical approach, and there's a challenge here for whichever Government wins the next general election. The first challenge is filling in that map, and then the second challenge is improving those relations.</p>
<p>So, over the last eight months, I've been touring England doing interviews with mayors, chief executives, Whitehalls, for a project that I'm working on at the moment on looking at these relations, and it is interesting: I have a mayor—who I'll not quote, but kind of paraphrase—who says, 'We are bigger than Wales, but they have their own Secretary of State and they have their own forum, they have their own Parliament. Together, these regions, we are bigger than Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland in terms of population, but we don't have the access that they do.' So, inter-governmental relations is an area, moving ahead, where it'll become even more interesting as well.</p>

<p>No. Michael Gove has spoken to us—well, not this committee, another committee. The Treasury Ministers are the real problem; they won't talk to anybody.</p>