Clause 26 - Regions
Regional Assemblies (Preparations) Bill
8:55 am
Mr Philip Hammond (Runnymede and Weybridge, Conservative)
I see no particular reason why the process should take much longer than the time scale already envisaged by the Minister. It would take a year for a boundary committee to do its work in one or two regions, if the Secretary of State were minded to call a referendum. I see no reason why restructuring the regional boundaries should take much longer. The Government's pragmatic objection is not a good reason to fail totally to deal with what anyone listening objectively to the debates in this Room and on the Floor of the House would agree is one of the two major objections voiced by Members on both sides of the House and on both sides of the debate on regional assemblies. The other is the coupling of the creation of regional assemblies with local government reorganisation.