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Betts re-elected as chair of CLG committee

Clive Betts has been re-elected as the chair of the Communities and Local Government (CLG) Select Committee.

MPs voted in a secret ballot yesterday for who would lead up each of its select committees, and Betts beat fellow Labour candidate David Lammy by 335 votes to 229.

The Sheffield South East MP will take up his position as chair of the committee when the remaining members have been named by the House

“I am honoured to be re-elected by the House as Chair of the CLG committee," said newly re-elected Betts. "Local government faces a number of challenges over the coming years and I hope the Committee will shine a light on these issues, provide robust scrutiny of Government policy, and propose constructive solutions."

Betts also said he looked forward to I look forward to the wider membership of the Committee being nominated as soon as possible so that the CLG can get started with its important work. 

"Affordable housing and the need to increase house building remain high on the agenda and there are also ongoing questions around the future of devolution, and the funding of adult social care," he added. 

"The Grenfell Tower disaster also raises issues for potential review," Betts continued. "I believe the Committee should not seek to duplicate matters being looked at by the public inquiry, but there are issues, for example, regarding the effectiveness of building and fire safety regulations which the Committee, once formed, may wish to consider.”

As chair of the CLG committee, Betts has overseen the committee calling for changes to the council borrowing cap. He also played a central role in pressing ministers for a cross-party review of the social care system.

He’s also discussed in PSE the £2bn announced for social care in the Spring Budget and how it fundamentally “missed the point” of what needed to be done to save the ailing sector.

In the contested elections, the other successful candidates were as follows:

• Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy(Labour) - Rachel Reeves
• Defence(Conservative) - Dr Julian Lewis
• Education(Conservative) - Robert Halfon
• Environment, Food and Rural Affairs(Conservative) - Neil Parish
• Foreign Affairs(Conservative) - Tom Tugendhat
• Northern Ireland Affairs(Conservative) - Dr Andrew Murrison
• Science and Technology(Liberal Democrat) - Norman Lamb
• Transport(Labour) - Lilian Greenwood
• Treasury(Conservative) - Nicky Morgan

And in uncontested elections where only one candidate was running to be chair, the results were:

• Culture, Media and Sport(Conservative) - Damian Collins
• Exiting the EU(Labour) – Hilary Benn
• Health(Conservative) – Dr Sarah Wollaston
• Home Affairs(Labour) – Yvette Cooper
• International Development(Labour) – Stephen Twigg
• International Trade(Scottish National Party) – Angus Brendan MacNeil
• Justice(Conservative) – Robert Neill
• Scottish Affairs(Scottish National Party) – Pete Wishart
• Welsh Affairs(Conservative) – David T C Davies
• Women and Equalities(Conservative) – Mrs Maria Miller
• Work and Pensions(Labour) – Frank Field

And other specified select committees that were selected are:

• Environmental Audit(Labour) – Mary Creagh
• Petitions(Labour) – Helen Jones
• Procedure(Conservative) – Mr Charles Walker
• Public Accounts(Labour) – Meg Hillier
• Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs(Conservative) – Mr Bernard Jenkin
• Standards(Labour) - Sir Kevin Barron