Clause 32 - Ancillary powers
Local Government Bill
8:55 am
Mr Edward Davey (Kingston and Surbiton, Liberal Democrat)
I beg to move amendment No. 85, in
clause 32, page 14, line 21, leave out 'require' and insert 'ask'.
It is a real pleasure, Mr. Conway, to see you back in your place. Like us, you are full of enthusiasm.
Subsection (2) states:
''A Minister of the Crown may in connection with that section''—
that is clause 31, which is about the power to pay grant—
''require a local authority to formulate policies in relation to any matter.''
The amendment is about democracy; it is about whether or not local authorities should be free to spend the moneys that they receive from local and national taxpayers.
The Government tell us—we shall doubtless debate the matter in detail on the Floor of the House—that they want to reduce ring-fencing. They want to ensure that local authorities receive their grants and revenue from the local taxpayer and use the money as flexibly as possible. The reason for the amendment is that I believe that the Government have made a drafting error. I think that they meant to ''ask'' not ''require'' local authorities, because the latter goes against the Government's rhetoric and their policies. It is bizarre that the Government should ''require'' local authorities to formulate policies in exactly the manner that the Deputy Prime Minister and his colleagues want; I would have expected a Government who talk about local democracy to do the reverse of that.
I expect an early treat today. I expect the Minister to say that he believes in local democracy. I hope that he will say, ''The hon. Gentleman is right; we meant 'ask'. We do not require local government to do exactly what we say in every aspect of their policies, and we will accept amendment No. 85.''