Speeches by Cocking.

“Q You have forced areas to come forward. Miatta Fahnbulleh: Well, no. We said, “This is the suite—”

“I am a former councillor and I know lots of the witnesses from my previous role leader of Broxbourne council.”

“Q How does that work in places such as Hertfordshire? In Hertfordshire we have about 15 towns, all of similar size, and hardly anyone moves between the towns. It is not like Manchester, where all the services are based in one centre and people cohabit around that. The shires are very different to the areas that you hav…”

“Q You could currently do what you have just described without the Bill, could you not? Catriona Riddell: No, because you do not have the strategic authorities.”

“Q You mentioned earlier that you want to see some powers removed from councils and placed at a strategic level. I am completely against taking powers away from local councils, particularly in planning. Which powers do you think need to be removed from local councils and placed at the strategic mayoral level? Catriona R…”

“Q I want to continue down the planning route. You mentioned utility companies earlier; I completely agree that we need to get them around the table. What about the NHS and health services? How well are they are getting around the table at the moment, and what do you think the Bill will do to strengthen that? Lots of pe…”

“But you could do what you have described without the Bill; you do not need a strategic authority for it. If local authorities want to group together and do that under the county model, they could. Catriona Riddell: Yes, and I have been involved with several local authority groupings that have tried to do that. The chal…”

“Q Minister, we have heard a lot of evidence today about how metro mayors work in urban areas—we have heard some successful examples. However, we have hardly heard any evidence at all about metro mayors in the shires or in rural communities. How do you see the positives of metro mayors working in rural communities? Miat…”

“Q I want talk about district councils. Lots of councils have gone through unitarisation, and when they come out the other side, lots of them set up area planning committees and delivery teams based on the old district boundaries. What is your view on the savings that might come through that process? I think there are h…”

“I welcome the Secretary of State to her place. Small businesses in my constituency are vital to economic growth. What is her Department doing to ensure that small businesses can benefit from innovation and new technology?”

“3. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help support the adoption of new technologies in the workplace.”

“No, I will not give way. There have been lots of interventions, and I am fed up with the same interventions coming from the same Labour Members. Quite frankly it does not help the debate—just because they say something several times does not make it true. The Bill is costing us financially, but it also has security ris…”

“There are no two ways about it: this is a surrender Bill with no benefits to my Broxbourne constituents. Ministers have shamefully attempted to hide the shocking cost of this deal from the British people and the public at large. When the new Labour Government took office, they kept telling us in this Chamber about the …”

“We have all been told repeatedly that the Government’s plan for local government will improve local services and save the taxpayer money, but it is increasingly clear that the Bill fails to deliver on those points. This is a forced, top-down change from Westminster that will abolish effective local councils and strip l…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stringer. I commend the hon. Member for Bishop Auckland (Sam Rushworth) for securing this important debate. I want to focus on a local charity in my constituency, Hearts for Herts. In 2017, my constituent Justin Honey-Jones, an experienced paramedic, began the missi…”

“It is clear that the Government have lost control. The Government are going against their own election manifesto by taking the issue through the courts. I have asked this question before but not had an answer, so I ask it again: can the Home Secretary give me a date when the hotel in my constituency of Broxbourne will …”

“Last month, the Immigration Minister could not tell me in a written answer how many illegal asylum seekers have a criminal record. We have an asylum hotel in Cheshunt in my constituency, and my constituents are understandably concerned about criminal activity and antisocial behaviour. They do not think that the Governm…”

“Just to slightly push back on that, local plans are 15‑year periods, so some development that is allocated in the local plan will be at the end of that, so that is not really an argument—”

“Minister, I know you like to reflect.”

“You have significantly increased the targets for local authorities. Say a local authority gets a new town as well. Do you think that is fair that it has to do both of those, or, if it is getting a new town, should that not compensate it having to do a local plan and everything else as well? Otherwise, you are going to …”