Localism Bill passes to Public Bill Committee

Governance | Niki May Young | 18 Jan 2011

The Localism Bill debate reached fever pitch in Parliament yesterday with 40 speakers entering discussions at the Bill’s second reading in the House of Commons.

Despite clear divisions the Bill was passed to Public Committee Stage where the public may now submit evidence to the Committee.

While Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs welcomed the Bill, opposition Labour MP Barbara Keeley (pictured) summarised colleagues’ numerous concerns over the introduction of 126 new government powers, and branded the Bill “unfair” in the face of “savage cuts”.

“The Secretary of State told council leaders that they were in charge of about £38bn each year, no strings attached. Since then, the Conservative-led government have subjected council leaders to savage front-loaded cuts and to a stream of exhortations on what they should and should not do with their budgets,” she said.

“If the Secretary of State were a true champion of localism, he would have proposed real freedoms for councils, rather than give himself wide-ranging new powers to direct them,” she added.

But minister for decentralisation Greg Clark rebutted that the Bill is just the “first of many measures” that will “give power away rather than increase it for ourselves”.

Former Communities Secretary Hazel Blears added to the debate calling for “unequivocal confirmation” that the regulatory framework surrounding the ‘community right to challenge’, which would allow not-for-profit organisations to bid for the running of public services if they believed they could perform them better, would not be changed to enable commercial organisations to take over those services for private profit.

Jonathan Lewis, Social Investment Business chief executive, has previously praised the Bill's community right to challenge for its prospect of "removing barriers" for the sector.

You can have your say on the Bill by submitting evidence to the Public Bill Committee.

Who's Who: Jonathan Lewis

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