Again, that is a rather selective rewriting of history. If you speak to the leaders of any of the three parties in Bristol, they will say that there have been successes by all the parties and they are united in being proud of their city. But as happens in national government, there can be differences of view and policy, and I do not believe that the very bad impression given by the noble Lord is at all just or reasonable.
The most important thing about these new measures is that we should address the powers. Much as we applaud what is happening in Manchester and other areas, if you were to speak to the mayor of Toulouse or the mayor of Hannover, one of Bristol’s twin cities, and say, “We are going to finance your area by giving you predetermined, formula-determined grants in sealed envelopes; you will have no power to raise your own capital or to raise revenue; and you will have no other powers than those that the Government give you”, they would be horrified. This is not the spirit of devolution.
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Devolution is about trusting people and giving them powers where they have scope and can use their energy, creativity and innovation to take forward projects that can make their economic area more prosperous. It is not about giving people conditions or requiring
local government to have to employ legions of lawyers to work out the various agreements and restricting conditions. Whether we are looking at LEPs or future arrangements, we need to set our cities free. We need to allow them to select their own form of leadership. A mayor may or may not be appropriate, but certainly many parts of the country will not find it appropriate. In support of both amendments, I say that we should liberate local government and give it powers. We should let it have its vision and regenerate its own areas in the way it has wanted to do for so long.