Economic Growth

Debate between Steve Barclay and Emma Reynolds

Monday 7th September 2026 Commons Chamber

[Emma Reynolds]

I share my hon. Friend’s impatience. I want to get things done, and so does the Chancellor. The Attorney General will provide guidance to Ministers, so that we can make quicker decisions. She will advise on where we need consultation and where we do not. My hon. Friend is absolutely right to be impatient for change; I am too.

[Steve Barclay (North East Cambridgeshire) (Con)]

Is it not bizarre that just a few hours after the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government came to the House to pause local government reorganisation on the basis of legal risk, so that she can have more consultation, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury said, “We will bring an end to consultation culture and, with guidance from the Attorney General on legal risk, give Ministers the confidence to make decisions”? Will they have a greater appetite for legal risk, or will they pause to have more consultations? The two Ministers are saying opposite things.

[Emma Reynolds]

We have to get local government reorganisation right, so I make no apology for the Secretary of State coming to the House to update colleagues—for a couple of hours; it was a very long statement. I know that lots of Members from across the House have strong views on the issue, but it is important that the Government get this right.