Clause 1
Sustainable Communities Bill
10:00 am
Phil Woolas (Minister of State (Local Government & Community Cohesion), Department for Communities and Local Government; Oldham East and Saddleworth, Labour)
I beg to move amendment No. 2, in clause 1, page 1,line 4, leave out subsection (2).
I echo the comments of the hon. Member for Ruislip-Northwood in welcoming you to the Chair, Mr. O’Hara, and once again I look forward to serving under you in this important Committee—albeit under different circumstances from those to which I am accustomed. I find that quite liberating because when I first sat on a Standing Committee, I listened to the Minister reading out the word “resist” on many occasions. I now find myself in the privileged position of deciding whether we shall resist. I say “we”, looking at my Parliamentary Private Secretary, to whom I am very grateful for serving on the Committee, in the knowledge that there is an empty chair on my right where the honourable Whip would normally sit. From the point of view of a Minister, that changes the dynamic of a Committee.