"I thank you for your chairmanship, Ms Rees, and I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Hastings and Rye (Sally-Ann Hart) for securing this debate. The debate around LEPs is of particular interest to me because when I was leader of Derbyshire County Council from 2009 to 2013, I …..." Andrew Lewer - View Speech
"Thank you, Sir Edward. I thank my good and hon. Friend the Member for Wycombe (Mr Baker) for proposing this timely and important debate on an issue that will have significant implications for Northampton, the town that I represent.
Northampton, and indeed Northamptonshire, are a key part of the Oxford-Cambridge …..." Andrew Lewer - View Speech
"I refer Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests.
Housing is a central area of policy that must be a priority for the Government. On adult social care, I share the disappointment of many across the House and country that there is no detail about the …..." Andrew Lewer - View Speech
"I have long believed in local government, and I hope that we can come to understand devolution as not merely meaning local administration—being given permission by the centre—and instead move towards local politicians being accountable to the electorate for the decisions they take locally, rather than to Whitehall to the …..." Andrew Lewer - View Speech
"I refer to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests regarding my role as vice-president of the Local Government Association.
For 12 years I served as a member of planning committees on councils, and on my election to this House I founded the all-party parliamentary group for SME …..." Andrew Lewer - View Speech
"I want to place on the record a perspective from a local Member. Although in some ways it was unfortunate that the order was not introduced before the recent general election, at least there was an opportunity to debate the proposal in the course of the election. It received the …..." Andrew Lewer - View Speech
"I draw the House’s attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, and I thank the hon. Member for Mitcham and Morden (Siobhain McDonagh) for securing this debate. I have spent much of my working life taking an interest in this core topic, and after becoming a …..." Andrew Lewer - View Speech
"I invite my hon. Friend to agree that, notwithstanding her radical suggestion, which was also made by the Chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, about not bothering with the Green Paper, it would nevertheless be helpful if the publication of the Green Paper was now actually announced …..." Andrew Lewer - View Speech
"I welcome most of the local government settlement for 2019-20 and its recognition of the work done by councils to provide hundreds of services to local residents. Given the rapidly expanding council funding gap, which the LGA reports will rise to £8 billion by the middle of the next decade, …..." Andrew Lewer - View Speech
"This is not a whimsical issue for my right hon. Friend, but a long-standing issue of concern, as it is for me. My postgraduate thesis was on the Gothic revival in domestic architecture in the mid-18th century. That brings me to my question. How do we reconcile space for innovation, …..." Andrew Lewer - View Speech