Extracts from Lords debate on Devolution: English Cities - Jul 17
Thursday, 18 July 2019 07:50
Lord Wallace of Saltaire (LD):...It is also a real problem with
banks and the financial sector. My father spent his career working
for Barclays Bank dealing with funding for small companies and
reporting to his local head office in a federal bank, as it was
organised. Banks are now very much national and multinational and
do not retain that link. We must rebuild a whole host of things
that we have lost at the local or regional level. We are about to
lose EU structural funds. Perhaps I could...Request free trial
(LD):...It is also a
real problem with banks and the financial sector. My father spent
his career working for Barclays Bank dealing with funding for small
companies and reporting to his local head office in a federal bank,
as it was organised. Banks are now very much national and
multinational and do not retain that link. We must rebuild a whole
host of things that we have lost at the local or regional level. We
are about to lose EU structural funds. Perhaps I could persuade the
Minister to say a little about the shared prosperity fund what he sees it
doing and whether it will be entirely direct from Whitehall or
whether the regions will have some say in how it is distributed.
That is of real concern to the less prosperous regions of England.
Perhaps we ought to begin to discuss whether financial equalisation
across England is something that ought to be much more public and
much more politically debated. When I look at Germany, I am struck
by how Finanzausgleich is one of the things that is most bitterly
argued between the different Länder—quite rightly, because the rich
areas do not like transferring funds to the poorer, although it is
one of the things that has to be done within a national community.
Let us have that argument out in the open rather more. We have it
on the Barnett formula; we do not have it for the English regions.
As the noble Lord, , said, this is absolutely no
time for tax cuts. What we need now is long-term investment...
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of
Housing, Communities and Local Government and Wales Office
() (Con):...The
noble Lord, , made valid points,
some of which we have been dealing with in the public lavatories
legislation, such as the position in Saltaire and Bradford. He
talked about how we need to break the logjam in
Yorkshire, not least because the area he represents and is from is
unrepresented by a metro mayor—my personal view is that that is not
a desirable situation—and an impasse exists in South Yorkshire. He
asked about the shared prosperity fund. I fear this is the usual
line, but there is no change on it; it will be a matter for the
spending review. It will obviously take into account the interests
of different parts of the country and seek to ensure that those
which most need the shared prosperity fund—perhaps those which
previously benefited from cohesion funding—will continue to receive
benefits...
To read the whole debate, CLICK
HERE
|
