Clause 8 - Amendments of Constitution
Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill
8:55 am
Mr Jon Owen Jones (Cardiff Central, Labour/Co-operative)
I take the hon. Gentleman's point that this is a probing amendment, but surely the regulator is the safeguard necessary to ensure that a trust could not be hijacked. As the Bill proposes, amendments must, through the constitution, have the approval of the regulator. That is the safeguard. The Tory amendment seeks the safeguard of a 50 per cent. ballot. Unfortunately, in today's world, a 50 per cent. threshold can be a severe obstacle to change. The Tory party cannot seriously wish to constrain the ability and the flexibility of foundation trusts to make changes by imposing such a difficult hurdle.