Clause 16 - Capital expenditure
Local Government Bill
11:15 am
Mr John Pugh (Southport, Liberal Democrat)
I accept that the Minister has made valid points, particularly about computer software, on which we will have to reflect. What he has not done very well is counter the accusation that the framing of the words gives the Minister the power to be whimsical.
The phrase ''a particular local authority'' is a poor one. If particular circumstances prevail in one local authority, they may be replicated in a subsequent authority and therefore can be formulated in a general rule. There is a distinction between offering a particular authority advice on what the rules are and clarifying its position, and making exceptions or including an authority unnecessarily simply because it happens to be in the Government's firing line.
That reinforces my point that this is really the Local Government (Hackney) Bill, because the Government seem to have left themselves the possibility of referring to external rules, but with absolute unfettered discretion. Will the Minister explain in what sense the discretion of the Secretary of State will be limited?