A new Crown Estate Bill received its second reading in the UK House of Lords, with the Minister responsible, Lord Livermore, stating that that widening the scope of activities the Crown Estate can engage in will “allow it to further invest in the energy transition” and “will support the delivery of its core purpose across net zero, nature recovery, economic growth and generating returns to the public purse”.

The Financial secretary to the Treasury told peers that “Together, Great British energy and the Crown Estate will accelerate the development of the seabed and support infrastructure along the coast of England, Wales and Northern Ireland, creating a pipeline of sites for private developers to invest in. That means more clean power happening faster than would otherwise be the case.”

The Bill has three key elements:

• First, it widens investment powers by removing existing restrictions on investing in the current Act and clarifies the Crown Estate’s ability to invest in complementary activities such as research, digital technology and energy supply chains.
• Secondly, it grants the Crown Estate a power to borrow with Treasury consent. As well as generating returns for the public purse, this new ability to borrow will free it up to make better use of its existing assets, leveraging these to give it more room to invest.
• Thirdly, it makes amendments relating to the governance of the Crown Estate to provide legislative simplification and to bring it in line with best practice for modern corporate governance.

Devolution to Wales

During the debate, several members of the Lords expressed a view on the importance of following the model in Scotland to allow for inclusion of devolution of the Crown Estate in Wales to the Bill. Lord Livermore, speaking for the UK Government said: “The Government believe there is greater benefit—for both the people of Wales and the wider UK—in retaining the Crown Estate’s current form. I know that the noble Lords who raised these points will not agree with me, but the Government’s view remains that devolving the Crown Estate to Wales at this time would significantly risk fragmenting the energy market, undermining international investor confidence and delaying the progress towards net zero by an estimated 10 to 20 years, to the detriment of the whole nation.”

The Conservative peer, Lord Bourne, said:  “As I am sure Members of your Lordships’ House will appreciate, I am keen that Wales gets a fair deal. I would be interested in understanding from the Minister why it is the view that Wales should not have similar treatment to Scotland.”

Lord Wrigley, a Plaid Cymru peer, later pointed out the position of the Labour Party in Wales on the issue of devolution of The Crown Estate, “In the Welsh Labour Government’s response in March this year to the recommendations of the Independent Commission on the Constitutional Future of Wales, chaired by Archbishop Rowan Williams, they stated: Our longstanding position is that the Crown Estate should be devolved to Wales in line with the position in Scotland. That is the long-held view of the Labour Government in Cardiff.”

Lord Wrigley also pointed out that he has his own Private Member’s Bill, the Crown Estate (Wales) Bill, which is awaiting presentation.

The full transcript of the debate can be read in Hansard here.