Rewiring the State

Debate between Louise Haigh and Caroline Voaden

Wednesday 2nd September 2026 Commons Chamber

[Louise Haigh]

We are incredibly conscious of the burdens that small businesses are facing, particularly ones like the Fat Badger in Harrogate. That is why the Prime Minister set as his priority reducing burdens and cutting taxes for businesses—hospitality businesses in particular—in the first days of his premiership. High street regeneration and breathing life into our villages, towns and cities is absolutely a priority of this regime.

[Caroline Voaden (South Devon) (LD)]

The First Secretary of State talks about a broken political model that will cost jobs and opportunities, and I am afraid the decision that the predecessor Government made on local government reorganisation in Devon is exactly that: it will create a two-tier Devon, leaving one area behind. It has carved out three urban growth areas and dumped together all the bits that are left behind in a vast rural local authority of 100 miles from north to south with a road network equivalent to that of Luxembourg, leaving communities divided with little chance of ever being sustainable. This rural local authority has no chance of the same growth opportunities that the other ones have. This goes against everything the Prime Minister believes in about devolution being done from the ground up with the consent of communities, not from the top down from Whitehall. He told me that himself in July, so I urge the First Secretary and the Minister for Communities to listen to me, to other Devon MPs—perhaps not the Labour ones—and to the thousands of my constituents, and to review this decision.

[Louise Haigh]

I will ensure that the hon. Lady’s concerns are heard by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and I can confirm that the Communities Secretary will determine next steps on local government reform by the end of October 2026.