Orders of the Day — Urban Development Corporations (Financial Limits) Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 6:47 pm on 4 November 1987.

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Mr. Martin M. Brando-Bravo:

I join hon. Members in complimenting my hon. Friends the Members for Walthamstow (Mr. Summerson) and Stockton, South (Mr. Devlin) on two superb maiden speeches. On 12 June—when I was coming down from a blue cloud, having been re-elected—I felt sad at the loss of some very able colleagues. That sadness is at least softened by the quality of the class of '87.

My hon. Friend the Minister said that this was a modest measure. If one judges a Bill by the number of its pages and clauses, this is indeed a modest measure. Its size belies its importance. The concept of the urban development corporation, whether it be mini or maxi, is one of the great motor ideas of this era. Its growing impact on urban regeneration cannot be under-estimated and we must encourage it all that we can.

I acknowledge some of the faults that have been mentioned by hon. Members with regard to the showpiece UDC, the London Docklands development corporation. It is still a showpiece of which we can be proud, and it demonstrates what can be achieved against the warring factions of local authorities that, sadly, put parochial obstacles in the way of desired objectives.

There is no point in the Opposition trying to persuade people that all was sweetness and light in that area of London and that the Opposition would have done this by themselves without a UDC. The reality for all to see is that that is not true. For docklands and for the whole of that area of London, the development corporation was a brilliant idea and is becoming an ever more obvious success.

Not all UDCs are London ones, nor are they likely to be. Nevertheless, the principle is valid. We are debating the narrow point of financial limits and parliamentary control, but we must recognise the party political divide on the issue as to whether we should have development corporations at all. On 12 May, a Committee was dealing with Tyne and Wear, the black country and the Teesside development. The hon. Member for Jarrow (Mr. Dixon), who is an Opposition Front-Bench spokesman, said: We are entering a general election campaign. Why are we considering the order this morning? Why not wait until after the general election? Under the next Labour Government—we shall have a Labour Government by 12 June—there will be no need for such orders. The hon. Member for Jarrow was challenged by my hon. Friend the Member for Darlington (Mr. Fallon), who said that the hon. Member for Jarrow was saying that, should there be a Labour Government after 11 June, they would repeal the orders and scrap development corporations. In unequivocal terms, the hon. Member for Jarrow said yes.