Clause 16 - ''Capital expenditure''
Local Government Bill
2:30 pm
Mr Christopher Leslie (Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office; Shipley, Labour)
We finished the previous sitting on the concept of whimsicality and whether a Minister was fettered in using his discretion over the issuing of a direction on the definition of capital expenditure. In my earlier intervention I tried to explain that there was a limit to what Ministers can do. Ministers cannot exercise their powers unreasonably under the normal understanding of that concept. It goes back to something called the Wednesbury principle in the 1930s, with which I am sure he is familiar. Ministers must act reasonably or they are subject to a challenge. There will be full consultation in the normal way. Some of these directions are not impositions on the authority concerned; often, they can be requested by the authority concerned in the case of capitalisation. I am not entirely clear about the specific example that the hon. Gentleman posits about what would happen in the case of purchasing shares in an airport, as I do not have the information on such circumstances to hand. However, my understanding is that directions to change would be in exceptional circumstances and I hope that the hon. Gentleman will accept that assurance as sufficient in this case.