Clause 19 - Charging
Fire and Rescue Services Bill
2:30 pm
Mr Richard Younger-Ross (Shadow Minister, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister Local Government & the Regions; Teignbridge, Liberal Democrat)
I take the hon. Gentleman's point. I should have prefaced my argument by saying that the amendment is a probing one. From the amendments the hon. Gentleman proposed earlier, I know that it is often possible for an amendment to have unintended consequences. We do not want any unintended consequences to result from an acceptance, which is why I am sure that I shall withdraw the amendment once we have heard the Minister's response. I hope that the Minister will accept the main thrust of what we are saying—how we can free authorities to charge, rather than putting everything through the Secretary of State.