Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)
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Tuesday Volume 594 24 March 2015 No. 131 HOUSE OF COMMONS OFFICIAL REPORT PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) Tuesday 24 March 2015 £5·00 © Parliamentary Copyright House of Commons 2015 This publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Open Parliament licence, which is published at www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright/. 1271 24 MARCH 2015 1272 that this coalition Government have finally been able to House of Commons set Greater Manchester, Cheadle and other parts of the country free from excessive Whitehall control is a great Tuesday 24 March 2015 achievement that has been accompanied by a rebalancing of the economy. Sixty per cent. of the net growth in jobs has taken place outside London and the south-east. The House met at half-past Eleven o’clock That contrasts very favourably with Labour’s record. Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op): Is PRAYERS the Deputy Prime Minister actually going to tell me, or the people in Yorkshire where I represent the town of [MR SPEAKER in the Chair] Huddersfield, that this late conversion to the northern powerhouse and all this talk is anything more than pie in the sky? The Government should have been doing BUSINESS BEFORE QUESTIONS something about the northern regions in the past five years. TRANSPORT FOR LONDON BILL [LORDS] Further consideration of Bill, as amended, opposed and The Deputy Prime Minister: What an absurd thing to deferred (Standing Order No. 20). say for a member of a party whose Government presided over a decline in manufacturing that was three times faster than under Margaret Thatcher, and who saw the north-south divide open ever wider during the 13 years Oral Answers to Questions of the Labour Administration. We have not just started this in the later stage of this Parliament; we have introduced city deals and local growth deals, we have devolved more funding, and we have devolved control over business DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER rates—something never, ever undertaken by Labour. The Deputy Prime Minister was asked— Mr John Leech (Manchester, Withington) (LD): Health devolution will allow decision makers to prioritise health Northern Futures Project inequalities in Manchester, but does my right hon. Friend agree that health professionals in the NHS need 1. Mark Hunter (Cheadle) (LD): What progress to be involved in the detailed discussions to make sure he has made on the Northern Futures project; and if that we get the best deal for patients in our local NHS? he will make a statement. [908252] The Deputy Prime Minister: Yes, of course. Any The Deputy Prime Minister (Mr Nick Clegg): Before I change in something as complex and important as the turn to my answer, I am sure that I speak on behalf of NHS in any part of the country needs to be done with the whole House in saying how shocked I am to have the fullest possible participation of the health professionals heard about the very serious air accident that appears who will be delivering that change. I regularly encounter—I to have happened in the Alps in the last couple of hours, am sure that my hon. Friend has found the same—health with the reported very large loss of life. I am sure that professionals who complain about the straitjacket of the thoughts and prayers of everybody in all parts of decision making from Whitehall and who will welcome the House are with the families and friends of those the idea that more decisions can be taken locally to suit who were on board. the health needs of local communities. Northern Futures has been a great success. It has helped us to engage thousands of people across the Stephen Twigg (Liverpool, West Derby) (Lab/Co-op): country in a debate about how we rebalance the economy First, may I echo the Deputy Prime Minister’s words and has helped to generate the political consensus needed about the tragic air crash in the Alps? to tackle the over-centralisation of power in Whitehall. Over the past five years, average cuts to local authorities Specifically, it paved the way for more than £7 billion of have been £80 per person, but in the Deputy Prime much needed road and rail investment announced in the Minister’s city of Sheffield the figure is almost three autumn statement and for a set of radical decentralisation times higher, and in my city of Liverpool it is almost deals with Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds. five times higher. Will he take this final opportunity at the Dispatch Box to admit to the House that the Mark Hunter: I thank my right hon. Friend for that Conservative Government whom he has supported for answer. Northern Futures is a major part of the coalition five years is no friend of the north? Government’s efforts to rebalance the economy after decades of over-investment in and focus on London The Deputy Prime Minister: I know that the hon. and the south-east. Constituencies such as Cheadle, Gentleman’s party is in perpetual denial about the where unemployment is now just 1.4%, are key beneficiaries. economic mess it bequeathed this Government. The Does he agree that this will be one of this Administration’s problem is that, because of mismanagement on Labour’s greatest legacies? watch, the economy blew up, the banks, which it was sucking up to, held a gun to our heads, and 6% was The Deputy Prime Minister: Yes, I strongly agree with wiped off the value of our national economy, which my hon. Friend. After such a long period of over- took £2,400 off every household in this country. That is centralisation of decision making in Whitehall, the fact what the Labour party did. We have had to pick up the 1273 Oral Answers24 MARCH 2015 Oral Answers 1274 pieces. Of course, given that local public spending represents Geraint Davies (Swansea West) (Lab/Co-op): Devolution about a quarter of the total, savings need to be made of power and responsibility to Wales required an Act of locally as well as nationally, but that is a direct consequence Parliament and a referendum of the people, yet Manchester of Labour’s mismanagement of the national economy. and elsewhere are seeing ad hoc devolution that heralds the break up of the NHS. Is it not time to do this Devolution: England properly, rather than play a political game in the run-up to an election? 2. Stuart Andrew (Pudsey) (Con): What progress he has made on further devolution in England. [908253] Greg Clark: I am very surprised that the hon. Gentleman seems to be against the devolution that has been welcomed 5. Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con): What progress he right across the country and that has led to the leaders of Cardiff approaching the Government to request a has made on further devolution in England. [908256] city deal. I will visit Cardiff later this week to begin The Minister of State, Cabinet Office (Greg Clark): negotiations. They will be very concerned to hear that This Government have a proud record of devolving the hon. Gentleman is against it. power from central Government to the cities, towns and counties of this country: we passed the Localism Act Sir Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD): The population of 2011; we have initiated and negotiated 28 city deals; we Essex is more than double that of Cornwall, and the are devolving at least £12 billion of central resources to population of the six counties of the east of England is local places through growth deals; and, with the Greater considerably greater than that of Wales, so may we have Manchester agreement, and agreements with other cities devolution to the powerhouse of the six counties of the to follow, there is now unstoppable momentum to continue east of England? that success. Greg Clark: Through the Government’s programme over the past few years, we have devolved—and we will Stuart Andrew: I am grateful for that answer. Does complete the devolution of—£12 billion of resources my right hon. Friend agree that the constitutional reform that were previously administered by Ministers and priority should be to ensure a fair and balanced devolution officials in Whitehall to Essex and other great counties. settlement for every part of the UK and to introduce That is work in progress, but I agree with my hon. English votes for English laws? Friend that we can and should go further. Greg Clark: My hon. Friend is absolutely right. That Mr Angus Brendan MacNeil (Na h-Eileanan an Iar) is why the Leader of the House has made it very clear (SNP): Can the Minister see the regions or cities of that the return of a Conservative Government will England one day having more devolution than Scotland correct that injustice and there will indeed be English currently has? votes for English laws. Greg Clark: The progress we have made in England Henry Smith: As well as English votes for English has been significant. As the hon. Gentleman knows, we laws and, indeed, devolution to our great cities, can my have also concluded a city deal with Glasgow. Some of right hon. Friend assure me that a future Conservative the reflections I have heard from Scotland state that the Government will devolve more authority on service Scottish Government have been a rather centralising delivery to the great counties of England, which have a Government and that they will look to the model of strong track record of democratic delivery? I welcome decentralisation that we have pursued in England to try the growth deal from which west Sussex has benefited.