Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, in the context of proposed boundary changes, what steps his Department is taking to strengthen the representation of the historic English counties.

Historic counties are an important part of our history and traditions helping to instil community pride and strengthening long lasting ties that have bound our communities together.

Whilst the boundary changes we are proposing, which relate to establishing unitary councils in Cumbria, North Yorkshire, and Somerset, have no direct impact on historic counties, we are very alive to their significance, and so, for example, in Cumbria we are proposing that the two new unitary councils should be called the Cumberland Council and the Westmorland and Furness Council, reflecting their links with the historic past.