John Shipley attacks Labour secret meeting carve-ups on North East Combined Authority

Speaking in a debate on the Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill [HL] during the Committee stage (3rd Day) (29 Jun 2015) John, Lord Shipley said : My Lords, can the Minister explain what the Government plan to do if all the members of a combined authority are members of the same political party and hold informal pre-meetings prior to the meeting of the combined authority which is being held in public? Let us say that the meeting of the combined authority ends up being a short meeting and the private meeting beforehand ends up being a long one. What steps do the Government plan to take to deal with such situations should they arise?

Baroness Williams of Trafford Conservative
The noble Lord raises an important point, but it has always been thus-informal meetings between people are not obliged to be held in public. The point on transparency is that the decision-making has to be in public and the public can be there to see it. However, informal meetings have never been subject to those rules.