Deirdre Costigan

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Stringer, and I thank the hon. Member for Epsom and Ewell (Helen Maguire) for securing this debate. From commuters trying to get to Southall station in the morning to my 82-year-old constituent trying to get to Ealing hospital along Boston Road, e-bikes on the pavement are a daily annoyance in Ealing Southall. People think that the council is to blame, but the truth is that the council has almost no powers when it comes to e-bikes and e-scooters. In fact, anyone in Ealing could set up an e-bike company in a morning—I could do it myself, and there is nothing the council could do to stop me. All the council can do is try to agree a voluntary memorandum of understanding with e-bike companies, but that is just a gentlemen’s agreement; it is not the law. In reality, e-bike companies can do whatever they want. This has led to a wild west situation in London, with a patchwork of companies operating in different boroughs, which is why we have bikes piled up at borough boundaries, and it is almost impossible to hold companies to account for bad parking or massive oversupply of bikes in some areas. Ealing made a voluntary agreement with two companies, Forest and Lime, but a third company, Voi, is refusing to leave the borough, and there is not a lot the council can do about it. I am delighted that this Labour Government have already taken concrete action, after years of inaction by the previous Government. The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026, passed before the summer, will finally give councils and mayors the powers to license e-bike and hopefully also e-scooter companies. Although some steps still need to be taken in Parliament to formally pass those powers to the Mayor of London, it will mean we can set London-wide rules for e-bikes, including on mandatory parking spaces, age limits for riders and insurance. We will also be able to fine companies that do not play by these rules. The previous Government did not have the courage to act, but Labour is doing what it promised: devolving powers to local communities, so that they can make the rules in their areas. All we need now is for the Minister to hop on his e-scooter and pick up the pace a bit, so that we can get these powers transferred to the Mayor of London as soon as possible.