The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
South Holland District Council leader and Local Government Association chairman Gary Porter (55) last week (November 18) had his first day in Parliament’s second chamber as Lord Porter of Spalding. It coincided with an #ourday Twitter initiative to highlight the work of local government. We’ve fleshed out his tweets to give a flavour of a memorable day in his life.
06:00 Wakes in a Lambeth hotel. Spends a couple of hours going through emails and paperwork for the many meetings ahead. Breakfast is skipped.
GP: “I do have breakfast if I’m at home – toast and paté.”
09:00 Meeting in Local Government House at Smith Square, near the Palace of Westminster, with Coun Neil Clarke, chairman of District Councils’ Network.
GP: “We were discussing business rate retention and how that was going to be divided up now that it looks like we’re going to be able to keep 100 per cent.”
09:15 Walks to Great Smith Street for a meeting at the Department of Education with Education Secretary Nicky Morgan.
GP: “It was more of an introductory meeting for Roy Perry, chairman of the LGA’s Children and Young People Board.”
10:05 Off to Marsham Street for LGA and County Councils’ Network regular weekly meeting with Greg Clark (Secretary of State for the Department for Communities and Local Government) and Brandon Lewis (Minister of State for Housing and Planning).
GP: “We covered a list of topics which I can’t divulge but things that affect every council in the country. It was largely around the Spending Review.”
11:15 Wander back to Smith Square. A chance to deal with urgent emails and texts.
South Holland emails and phone calls were about the budget, Compass Point (which delivers back-office services for the district council), a debrief on a meeting earlier in the week and a conversation about a meeting the next day about Spalding Chamber of Trade.
Coun Porter is also often accompanied by LGA staff, briefing him on forthcoming meetings.
12:00 Phone call with No 10 team about business rates retention.
12:30 As chairman of the LGA, Coun Porter makes a welcome to England speech for the European members and New Zealand chairman of the Commonwealth Local Government Forum.
It’s lunchtime but he still has nothing to eat, just cups of tea during meetings.
13:15 A photoshoot in and on top of Local Government House for The Guardian ahead of an hour-long chat with a journalist for a profile piece due in yesterday’s edition.
14:30 Meeting in House of Lords with Lord Freud, Minister of State for Welfare Reform, on the impact of Universal Credit.
15:30 Meet up with Coun David Hodge (leader of Surrey County Council and LGA vice-chairman) to see Greg Hands, chief secretary to the Treasury, in his Parliamentary office.
16:00 First proper time in the House of Lords (after his induction the previous day, watched by family members including his 13-year-old granddaughter who is a fan of The Apprentice and was more taken by seeing Lord Alan Sugar, Baroness Karren Brady and Nick Hewer!)
18:15 First-ever vote – and Coun Porter is on the losing side after joining the “not content” lobby over a Lib Dem amendment to lower the voting age to 16.
GP: “There was an Electoral Reform survey some time ago. We asked South Holland Youth Council to report back to us on this issue. They didn’t want it lowering and that was put as the council’s response.
“I figured 15 and 16-year-olds know best whether they wanted the vote sooner so I voted that way.
“I don’t lose many votes and the first time in the House of Lords I’m on the losing side!”
20:00 Adjourn for dinner.
GP: “It’s not ‘tribal’ (party lines) – you just take the next seat on a long table.”
Bacon steak and mashed potato, but the vegetables had run out – which didn’t bother Coun Porter.
GP: “It reminded me of school – you get your own peg in the cloakroom and the mash was gloopy!”
22.50 Business in the chamber finishes.
Coun Porter dashes off to St Stephen’s Tavern in nearby Bridge Street, where he was due to meet a National Association of Local Councils representative. He had long gone, so after two pints of Kronenbourg 1664, Coun Porter heads back to his hotel for some final work and then four hours’ sleep.
