Clause 1 - Power to borrow
Local Government Bill
9:30 am
Mr Philip Hammond (Runnymede and Weybridge, Conservative)
I am grateful to the Minister for his clarification. We will need to return to several issues raised by his past few comments when we consider clause 3, although the Liberal Democrat amendment to clause 2 will provide a vehicle for that.
I do not want to take up more of the Committee's time, but may I draw the Minister's attention to the fact that we have been sensibly debating clause 1 for 18 minutes, although the clause was his example of a clause on which we would not need to spend any time. There has been no time wasting and no unnecessary debate. The debate has been valid and it clarified many issues. That underlines the real difficulty of considering the Bill under the timetable before the Committee.
Question put and agreed to.
Clause 1 ordered to stand part of the Bill.