Clause 14
Local Democracy, Economic Developmentand Construction Bill [Lords]
6:15 pm
Stewart Jackson (Shadow Minister, Communities and Local Government; Peterborough, Conservative)
I shall make a brief general point; I hope that you do not rule me out of order, Mr. Amess. In respect of clause 14, I think that hon. Members across the House might be concerned about the loose definition of subsection (1)(b) in respect of petitions that are vexatious, abusive or otherwise inappropriate. In practical terms, we have seen the recent controversy in Mid Bedfordshire district council—as it then was—over a petition concerning Gypsies and Travellers. I understand that a value judgment was made by council officers without recourse to elected members—or, at least, elected members were sent the letters but did not read them—that branded petitioners potentially racist. I know this is rather tangential, but perhaps the Minister will dwell on the value judgments that are made about what is inappropriate or vexatious.
I shall come back to order, Mr. Amess, and return to the point of the hon. Member for North Cornwall point concerning the appropriate cabinet member or leader. If we are to be consistent in our philosophical approach to the Bill, we are not predisposed to support this point simply because there is a practical issue with it. I should like to quote the good Lord Greaves again on that. If a small cul-de-sac wants its pavements to be looked at by the local authority or highways maintenance and has 15 signatures, or if there is a petition against the third runway that has 75,000 or 100,000 signatures, it might not be practical to remit that petition or all petitions, through the Bill, to one named individual or office holder. That would set a dangerous precedent and it would not be consistent with our ideological and philosophical approach to accept that.
We are minded to look favourably on amendment 43, which was tabled by the hon. Member for North Cornwall. I think that he seeks, by a circuitous sleight of hand, to do what we pressed the Minister and the Government to do earlier and practise what they preach. If local authorities are to have responsibilities cascaded down to them, they should not be responsible for discharging duties in relation to people for whom they have no democratic influence or accountability. On that basis, if the hon. Gentleman presses the amendment to a vote, we will support it.