Clause 76
Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]
6:15 pm
Rosie Winterton (Minister of State (Yorkshire and the Humber), Department for Communities and Local Government; Doncaster Central, Labour)
Again, I can assure the hon. Gentleman—I suspect that he will greet this with hollow laughter—that we intend that the Government will use reserve powers sparingly and as a last resort. I do mean that. Obviously the word “expedient” implies that there would be extremely good reasons for doing so. I must emphasise that the Government have taken enormous steps to devolve power to regional authorities. It is not the Government who, throughout the course of the Bill, have voted against the ability to draw up regional strategies and for there to be democratic accountability through the leaders’ board.
We want to see the strategies working effectively. There is no reason why they should not, because we believe that this is a good way to deliver economic prosperity and improve competitiveness in the regions. The principle here is that things have to be done at regional level. The circumstances in which the Secretary of State would wish to intervene in such a way would necessarily be as a last resort, and we believe it is important to have these powers as that last resort.