English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill

Lord Wallace of Saltaire Excerpts

Thursday 26th March 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lords, Lord Bichard, Lord Wallace of Saltaire and Lord Ravensdale, for amendments on collaboration. I will start with the government amendments in this group, which are minor and technical in nature. Their purpose is to align relevant definitions across the Bill. Taken together, they update wording in Clauses 21, 22 and 51. In doing so, they make the wording consistent with that used in paragraph 4 of Schedule 25 in the definition of “eligible function”.

The effect is to clarify that mayors may convene local partners, collaborate with neighbouring mayors or request an additional function in relation to any aspect of any area of competence. This reflects the Government’s clear policy intention to provide mayors with the flexibility that they need to use these powers effectively in addressing local priorities. For example, the health, well-being and public service reform area of competence should be read as covering its individual component parts of health and well-being and public service reform, rather than as a single inseparable policy heading. These amendments therefore promote consistency across the Bill, avoiding ambiguity or an unnecessarily narrow interpretation of how these powers relate to the areas of competence.

I hope that, with this explanation, the House will support these amendments. I will listen to the noble Lords introducing their amendments before I respond to them.

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire (LD)]

My Lords, I rise to talk to Amendment 181, which is grouped with this. Britain has an unwritten constitution, which gives us flexibility but also lacks constraint on changing Prime Ministers or Governments beyond trust in their behaving like good chaps. As we have discovered in recent years, not all Prime Ministers do behave like good chaps or chapesses. The Minister herself earlier today referred to the question of whether a future Government might “on a whim” change the way they operate in crucial ways. The purpose of this amendment is to entrench the role of the mayoral council in the future governance of England and to make sure that a future Government cannot simply muck things up on a whim.

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The amendment proposed by the noble Lord is ambitious and full of positive intent, but, to be delivered effectively, as I think he identified, important groundwork will need to be undertaken to address public sector reform challenges. It is essential to engage the right stakeholders. I therefore invite the noble Lord to join a round table chaired by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State to discuss the Government’s plan for local public service reform. I would welcome the opportunity to discuss these matters further with both the noble Lord and the wider local government sector. With these points in mind, I hope noble Lords will feel able not to press their amendments.

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire (LD)]

Before the noble Baroness sits down, can she clarify one point? We are heading towards a model of English governance in which there will be roughly 35 elected mayors. Do the Government envisage that the Council of the Nations and Regions will then have the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government, the Northern Irish Government and, on the same basis, 35 English mayors?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

Those bodies are new bodies, and they will be evolving and changing as we evolve and change the model. They are not decision-making bodies. That is the main reason for saying we do not want to put them in statute, particularly in view of the fact that they will change fairly rapidly as we increase the mayoral model across the country.

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Tabled by

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

181: After Clause 56, insert the following new Clause—
“Mayoral Council for England(1) Elected mayors for combined and strategic authorities shall constitute a Mayoral Council for England. (2) The Council shall meet with the Secretary of State at least four times a year.(3) The functions of the Council are—(a) to work with central government to create a framework for the further devolution of power within England,(b) to work with central government to agree the fair funding of local and strategic authorities, and(c) to choose representatives of the Mayoral Council to participate in the Council of Nations and Regions.”

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire (LD)]

This time on a Thursday afternoon, just before the Recess, is not the ideal time to call a Division, much as many of us on these Benches would have liked to do so. We do not resile from the view that this Bill is constitutionally deficient and democratically damaging, but the Labour Party, so long as it remains in government, will have to take responsibility for the consequences of the reorganisation of the governance of England as it develops. The Minister has made it clear that she wants it to develop flexibly, and perhaps, so long as we have a single-party government, it may continue to do so.

Amendment 181 not moved.