Jim McMahon MP: speeches

Speeches

• 16 Dec 2024 · English Devolution · Hansard source

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  I think the right hon. Member has outlined exactly the balance we are trying to get. One priority is about size for efficiency through both devolution to strategic authorities and local government reorganisation, if that follows in the same area. The second is about how the real economy is functioning, because in the end this is about growth and making sure that a functioning economy can be identified and can grow. Those will, of course, be mixed in with identity to make sure that it works. It follows, I think, that in most places the historic counties will be the building blocks for that, but I know that some boundaries are quite hotly contested, as we have seen in Cumbria. However, we are not going back 2,000 years.

• 16 Dec 2024 · English Devolution · Hansard source

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  In all things I try to be direct, and I have been direct in saying that if those councils that come to the Government with a request for reorganisation meet the test and have a credible programme in place, the elections will likely not take place until the year after, because they will be postponed to elect the shadow authority that would replace the county and the districts. We are clear on that. To give the hon. Lady assurance, there will not be a mass cancelling of elections for the sake of it, in the hope and prayer that some councils might come forward for reorganisation. There has to be a balanced and proportionate approach, and that is what we intend to take.

• 16 Dec 2024 · English Devolution · Hansard source

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  We do not have a proposal for reorganisation for Greater Lincolnshire, but that is not to say that conversations are not taking place locally about making a representation to Government. When that letter goes out later today, we expect areas that are currently not on our list will come forward on that basis. In the end, it is for local areas to determine what submission they want to make, but in terms of sparsity and having an anchor that makes sense, I completely understand the hon. Gentleman’s point.

• 16 Dec 2024 · English Devolution · Hansard source

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  We are absolutely committed to working in partnership, giving capacity and time to ensure that those local nuances are reflected in whatever follows.

• 16 Dec 2024 · English Devolution · Hansard source

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  We talk quite a lot about how sufficient funding was not provided over a decade of underfunding, but that does not mean there were not growing costs in the system. We have found that in the end, local government is where all the demand presents itself—whether it likes it or not—when there is failure in other parts of the system, whether that is the failure of developers to build enough properties, the NHS not quite being able to co-ordinate with community services, or the private sector exploiting its audience and charging eye-watering sums, such as in children’s services. We have to redesign local public services around people, place and communities, and public sector reform and prevention are part of that. The alignment of public service boundaries is critical; if people do not have democratic control and oversight over things such as integrated care boards or police and crime commissioners, aligned to strategic authorities, we will not make the progress that we need to make.

• 16 Dec 2024 · English Devolution · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Gentleman, who is my predecessor, for his question and for the tone with which he dealt with us in opposition; I honour that in return. The fair funding review is absolutely critical. We are committed to a multi-year financial settlement, which is about giving security, but we all know there is no security if the money is insufficient to meet demand. The hon. Gentleman and the House have absolute assurance that all the cost factors, including the cost of rural service delivery, will be taken into account in a fair funding review.

• 16 Dec 2024 · English Devolution · Hansard source

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  There have been a number of competing proposals. I do not believe in elephants in the room, but one was an explicit proposal to have a Devon and Cornwall combined authority with a mayor. It was by and large proposed by Devon, but it was met with what I would describe as quite animated resistance from Cornwall for different reasons. It is not our intention—and, frankly, there are not enough hours in the day—to keep getting involved in local disputes about boundaries and identity. What we want, and this is genuine, is for the local area to self-organise, come up with a proposal that is right for the area, and make that proposal to the Government so that we can work in partnership and deliver the outcome of getting powers out of this place and into places such as Cornwall.

• 16 Dec 2024 · English Devolution · Hansard source

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  On local plans, if any areas at this point have failed to get a local plan in place, they are leaving the door open for development to take place without any checks and balances, and in a way that really does take away local power. We are trying to reconcile that and get a balance. I hear quite often about the housing targets that have been set—the 1.5 million new homes. I should say, by the way, that there are a lot of good skilled working-class jobs that go with that 1.5 million new homes. There are 150,000 kids in temporary accommodation who need a home. There are 500 kids in hotels in my constituency who deserve a secure, affordable place to live. There is a bigger crisis here, which is why local plans are so important. Where they are not in place, we will have to look at strategic plans in those areas. We are out to consultation on a number of those points. On county elections, the letter will go out today to county councils inviting them to make a submission in January. Subject to that submission being robust, it can be part of a priority programme. We will do what the previous Government did and accept the view that if a local authority will not exist in the near future, it makes no sense to have an election to it. However, we will very soon after want to have an election for the shadow authority that will follow, so further detail will follow on that.

• 16 Dec 2024 · English Devolution · Hansard source

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  In some ways we have to give direction. What we heard during the consultation stage with local government—that includes, by the way, the County Councils Network and the District Councils’ Network—is that the more clarity on a framework that can be provided by central Government upfront, the better for local government to be able to organise. We are very clear that on an efficiency level—if the drive is for efficiency—the 500,000 is roughly the population needed to draw out those efficiencies. In the example that the hon. Gentleman gave, it would not be 1.2 million. It might be two or even three councils, because in areas in discussions about a mayoral combined authority, we have accepted—it is outlined in the White Paper—that there will need to be some flexibility in terms of scale and size of the local authorities that sit under it.

• 16 Dec 2024 · English Devolution · Hansard source

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  I will put the right hon. Gentleman down as undecided.

• 16 Dec 2024 · English Devolution · Hansard source

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  The assumption is that elections in counties will take place as planned, unless authorities actively approach us to say that they want reorganisation discussions and have proposals that they can work up. In those circumstances, we will take the view that elections to an authority that will not exist should be postponed so that an election for a shadow authority can follow. On Derbyshire, we need to be careful: the Government’s role is to invite and to receive, not to draw the maps, which is for local authorities to do. As my role is quasi-judicial and I will need to take a view on potentially competing proposals, I cannot comment on what individual counties may or may not look like.

• 16 Dec 2024 · English Devolution · Hansard source

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  Absolutely. One keenly felt problem with the previous devolution framework was that it did not have due regard for the role of district councils in primary cities, university cities and economic hubs. Reorganisation gives those places the ability to grow, become unitary authorities, and take their place in the new strategic authorities.

• 16 Dec 2024 · English Devolution · Hansard source

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  Well, I am glad somebody was listening! There are huge opportunities in Lancashire. If we think about the work that has been done to secure a mayoral combined authority in Hull and East Yorkshire, and if we think about the opportunities in Cumbria, Cheshire and Lancashire, that completes the map of the north. Our leaders there are already self-organising through the Great North project, chaired by Mayor Kim McGuinness, to lead from the front on inward investment. It would be a shame, given Lancashire’s economic success, particularly on energy and other issues, if it is not part of that agenda. On the organisation, I think most people in Lancashire accept that, after 20 years or more of talking about it, the time had probably come. But it is for local areas to come together and have a plan that is right for their place, and to make a submission to the Government. It is not for the Government to redraw the map of England and impose it on every community. But our ambition is clear and the direction is clear: we absolutely welcome areas making that submission and we want to work towards more mayoral combined authorities.

• 16 Dec 2024 · English Devolution · Hansard source

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  It was previously very difficult for the Government to have an honest conversation with local government about what an adequate level of public service provision should be in a given place, because they knew full well that they were not providing the resources to enable that to happen in a fair way across the country. When we fix the financial foundations of local government through the fair funding review and the multi-year settlement, and build rigour around it, we will move away from the hundreds, and in some cases thousands, of top-down metrics that central Government expect councils to report on. We will look to simplify the funding system to end unnecessary ringfences that act as shackles on local government, but there has to be governance, accountability and a very clear responsibility to deliver the outcomes that the Government want in return for those freedoms, flexibility and fair funding.

• 16 Dec 2024 · English Devolution · Hansard source

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  On the question of whether we will reduce the number of Ministers, I can easily answer that by saying that that is well above my pay grade, but I hope there will always be a need for a Local Government Minister to oversee, to hold people’s hands and to be a well-wisher. The identity question is really important, and any devolution or reorganisation has to get the balance right. The tests that will be applied are in the White Paper. This is about getting the balance right between ensuring: that the economic footprint, which is the real economy, is recognised; that, as much as possible, there is public service boundary alignment to services across policing, the health service and others; and that we capture identity as much as possible. There will be a trade-off in some cases, but it is for local areas to come forward with the right proposal for their area after due consideration.

• 16 Dec 2024 · English Devolution · Hansard source

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  I remember when the Greater Manchester devolution deal was signed in 2014. Its principles were to reform public services, so we could focus on prevention rather than crisis management, which is more expensive and has worse outcomes, and grow the local tax base, because the area would become more productive through investment. I will be honest and say that we did not see the investment in prevention reform, so growth was stunted. However, even in that context, growth in Greater Manchester has outperformed that of other areas, in large part because of the devolution agreement and the leadership and co-ordination involved. Even by independent assessments, allowing our regions to realise their full potential would be worth between £30 billion and £50 billion to the economy that is not currently being realised, so there is an alternative and we have to grasp it.

• 16 Dec 2024 · English Devolution · Hansard source

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  I will come to some of the questions raised, but let nobody in the Chamber take lessons and lectures from the Conservatives when it comes to the perilous state that local government has been left in. Let us talk about the councils that were going bust left, right and centre on their watch. Let us talk about the fiscal discipline on 1,000-audit backlogs. What does that mean? It means £100 billion of public money that they could not account for, which held up the signing off of the national accounts. That was their legacy, and they talk about being custodians of public money—they did not even know where the money was. What about the crisis that was building up in adult and children’s social care and in homelessness? At a time when we should have been thinking about prevention and reform and getting ahead of the problem, essentially the previous Government were making matters worse, not better. When Conservative Members talk about their legacy and being on the side of councillors, we should ask which Government it was that eroded the standards regime—its teeth were put completely to one side—leaving councillors open to abuse and intimidation and turning council chambers into hostile, toxic environments. Which Government was it that made councillors publish their home addresses when they were facing death threats? We are doing the work now to repair the foundations of local government, giving it the funding that is needed. After a decade of year-by-year funding, we have given local government a multi-year financial settlement so that it can get its house in order as part of the rebuilding work. That is what is needed now: grown-up politics, a plan to fix the country and a plan to put local government back on its feet. But just doing that is not enough; we have to break the centralising system. If a local authority wanted £1 million for a local project, the previous Government made them compete with their neighbouring council for a limited supply of money. The bidding wars that took place wasted millions of pounds of public money, and in the end they did not deliver on their core promise of levelling up. That was the agenda, and it has got to change. We have to change that cap-in-hand, parent-child relationship where power is hoarded at the centre. The people queuing up to have conversations about reforming public services and devolving powers to mayoral combined authorities may not be Conservative Front Benchers, but they are Conservative council leaders who recognise that they finally have a Government on their side, willing to work in partnership to make the changes where the previous Government failed.

• 16 Dec 2024 · English Devolution · Hansard source

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  This was one of the reasons why we were so keen to complete the map of the north of England. Most would accept that strategic transport, certainly, crosses county boundaries. If we think about connectivity in the north of England, how Lancashire, Greater Manchester, the Liverpool city region, Cheshire, Cumbria and the rest are joined up, and then even into Yorkshire, requires co-ordination. We want mayors and strategic authorities to work together across that pan-region, so that even more powers can be devolved to address the type of issues that my hon. Friend talks about.

• 16 Dec 2024 · English Devolution · Hansard source

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  I pay tribute to leaders in Cumbria for the engagement that we have had with them; I recognise that they have just been through a local government reorganisation and that there has been a lot to settle in the area. They have embraced our conversations with great maturity, and those conversations have been fruitful, but we recognise that different places are at different points. Different places have different pressures that they need to reconcile, which is why we are looking at a priority programme for the areas that will soon be ready to go. We need to get the legislation and consultation in place and make the case to the public. We accept that some areas will need longer. On mayors, I have been here long enough to see a number of Members stand up and protest against the idea of a mayor, only to pop up a bit later as the candidate for the same position, so I say to people in Cumbria: be careful what you wish for.

• 16 Dec 2024 · English Devolution · Hansard source

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  That is why there is a proposal in the paper to regularise the mayoral precept process. Where combined authorities exist and do not apply a precept, it is not that mayors and combined authorities do not cost money—of course they do—but that local authorities pay for them through a levy or a contribution outside the precept system. Our view is that, for transparency, accountability and political accountability, when mayors and combined authorities or strategic authorities are spending money, the public have a right to see that identified in their council tax, and they can make a judgment about whether that money is being spent wisely.

• 16 Dec 2024 · English Devolution · Hansard source

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  Only this week are we seeing a genuine redistribution of money in the local government system so that it goes to the areas that need it the most. For far too long, the funding formula did not recognise deprivation or that some tax bases are weaker at a local level than others. The £600 million recovery grant is intended to get to those areas. On value for money for public services, and getting them down to a neighbourhood level, as I said, there is a two-tier premium that is paid by local taxpayers to the tune of around £2 billion, which could be better used for local public services, and by central Government through the floor protections that we give to district councils, and that frankly could be used in better ways in areas of high deprivation and need.

• 16 Dec 2024 · English Devolution · Hansard source

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  I would not characterise the hon. Gentleman’s party as a threat to democracy, but it might be a threat to sanity. We are all tested on a too-regular basis by fairly ridiculous statements that try to drive a wedge and divide people instead of bringing them together. One thing about devolution is that, regardless of party politics, across Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives what we have seen in local areas is that when it comes to people, places and putting communities first, party politics are put to one side. I extend that invitation to the Reform party, too.

• 16 Dec 2024 · English Devolution · Hansard source

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  The truth is that these strategic authorities are about taking power from this place and moving it down to communities. Every Minister gets hundreds of sign-offs every single day, but as Conservative Members will remember, they include Ministers having to sign off whether cyclists can pass through a local park because the parish council has to apply to central Government for permission. That is part of the centralising nature of the state that we have to change.

• 16 Dec 2024 · English Devolution · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for her question, and for securing a Westminster Hall debate on this very issue. The Government do not accept the one-size-fits-all argument any more than an argument that councillors work in some areas but not others, and that Members of Parliament work in some areas but not others. In the end, when given the powers and resources, mayors can achieve change in partnership with local leaders. We are not creating super-councils. We are creating a strategic authority that will give power from this place downwards, giving councillors far more power. On how we will do it, I can say that in Lancashire, in our drive to widen devolution across the country, the principle is for foundation authorities; of course, Lancashire has already agreed to a level 2, which, in the White Paper, would be the equivalent of a foundation authority. In that sense, it already has devolution in place.

• 16 Dec 2024 · English Devolution · Hansard source

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  It is in the eye of the beholder. If the right hon. Gentleman wants to turn Essex into Monaco, I suspect that it will not happen. But if he is asking for genuine freedoms and flexibilities so that local leaders can make the right decisions to attract investment, assemble sites, invest in infrastructure, and remove barriers to planning and infrastructure, that is absolutely where we are going. On the issue of tax and fiscal devolution, we are very clear that the White Paper represents a moment in time; it is very much the start, not the end. What should be read in the White Paper is an ambition to provide certainty across Government and to make sure that the level of ambition is raised. When the right hon. Gentleman sees the schedule of devolution across the programme and the competencies—which are very important for economic development and regeneration—he will see that there is a lot of scope there.