Labour motion to block Localism Bill
Labour motion to block Localism Bill
Senior Labour figures have signed a parliamentary motion (of the type known as a ‘reasoned amendment’) to impede the passage through parliament of the government’s Localism Bill.
The motion asserts that the Bill proposes too many powers for the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which could be used to override the wishes of local people and local councils, contrary to the Bill’s supposed intention.
It also states that those parts of the Bill which have to do with community empowerment and planning have been put together “hastily and without adequate consultation with important stakeholders”.
The motion is signed by Labour Leader Ed Miliband, shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Caroline Flint, shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills John Denham, shadow Chancellor Alan Johnson, Barbara Keeley MP and Rosie Winterton MP.
The Full motion states:
- “That this House, whilst affirming its belief in the important principle of devolving power to local people and their elected representatives, declines to give a Second Reading to the Localism Bill because the proposed devolution of power to local authorities is undermined both by the extent to which the Bill hands powers to the Secretary of State to over-ride those devolved powers and by the extent of powers of the Secretary of State to direct local authorities in their governance arrangements, and because the community empowerment and neighbourhood planning sections of the Bill, which have been put together hastily and without adequate consultation with important stakeholders, would cause the planning functions of local authorities to become incoherent and ineffective and create new costly and complex systems of service procurement and would reduce the effectiveness of local authorities; and is strongly of the opinion that the publication of such a Bill should have been preceded by both fuller consultation and pre-legislative scrutiny of a draft Bill.
NAVCA sent a briefing to all MPs expressing our own concerns about the Bill ahead of its second reading in the House of Commons this afternoon.
17 January 2011
