Clause 19 - Advice of the Electoral Commission
Regional Assemblies (Preparations) Bill
12:15 pm
Mr Philip Hammond (Runnymede and Weybridge, Conservative)
The Minister's best point was that there were already a large number of unitary authorities in the north-east—which the flawed structure of his Bill would prevent from being reviewed. However, he cannot argue that there is a significant sense of identity in the north-east region that makes it an appropriate unit, and then argue in the next breath that there are significant differences in terms of identity and so forth that require separate unitary authorities to be established.