in June 2008, Bourne also became the Shadow Minister for Finance and Public Service Delivery remaining in the post until 22 October 2008. In the National Assembly, his political interests included the economy, foreign affairs, health and education. Bourne also supports charities and organizations in Wales, including the NSPCC, the National Trust, and the British Heart Foundation. Bourne campaigned for rural communities, opposing onshore wind farm developments, the closure of post offices and small schools, and supporting improved health care provision in non-urban areas. He campaigned on issues such as the need for a referendum on plans to give the assembly law making powers and supported the campaign for more legislative powers when David Cameron granted a referendum, the future of the National Botanic Garden, and on the growing cost of government in Wales. He is a member of the Doctors and Dentists Pay Review Body. In 2005, he was presented with the Local Campaigner of the Year Award by BBC show AM.PM; he also won AM of the Year from ITV. In 2011, he was nominated by the Welsh Conservatives as their representative on the Commission on Devolution in Wales, chaired by Paul Silk. He was also appointed by Edwina Hart to chair the Haven Waterway Enterprise Zone from 2012 to August 2014. In addition, he served as the Conservative representative on the Williams Commission on Public Service Governance and Delivery. Bourne was created a life peer on 9 September 2013, taking the title Baron Bourne of Aberystwyth, of Aberystwyth in the County of Ceredigion, and of Wethersfield in the County of Essex. Lord Bourne was made a whip in the House of Lords on 11 August 2014, replacing Lord Bates who had been promoted as part of a mini-reshuffle following the resignation of Baroness Warsi. During this period he was responsible for piloting the Pensions Schemes Bill through the House of Lords. In May 2015, he was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State jointly for DECC and the Wales Office. During 2017, Lord Bourne moved to the Northern Ireland Office before returning later in the year to the Wales Office, a post he continued to hold until his resignation in July 2019. At the same time, until his resignation, he was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Lord Bourne received the National "No to Hate Crime Award" for 2019 from the Anti-Hate