Eric pickles biography

Eric Pickles served as Member of Parliament for Brentwood and Ongar from 1992 to 2017. He served as Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government from 2010 to 2015, and as shadow Secretary for the same portfolio in 2002, 2003-05, and 2007-09.

Eric pickles biography

He became a life peer in 2018.

This interview was conducted on 28 September 2021.

Q: What was your role in, and overall assessment of, growth and regional policy over the past few decades?

I was Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government between 2010-2015.

The cornerstone of the growth agenda was the Localism Act, which was the largest Act passed by the government in that period. It was a twofold approach: first, localism itself, trying to devolve power down so that people would and could make decisions; second, as part of that process and to deliver growth, setting up the Local Enterprise Partnerships (‘LEPs’).

The big thing that worries all ministers, maybe le