Clause 4
Local Democracy, Economic Developmentand Construction Bill [Lords]
4:45 pm
Paul Goodman (Shadow Minister, Communities and Local Government; Wycombe, Conservative)
When we were both even younger than we are now, Mr. Amess, and when all the other members of the Committee were younger, a famous politician got into a bit of trouble. I will not identify his political party, because, heavens, that would be too controversial, but his answer to all difficult questions was “ditto”, over and over again. Clause 4 is a ditto clause in that we will get the ditto answer from the Minister to our ditto objections. There is no reason whatever for the clause to be in the Bill. It is perfectly worth while for local authorities to promote understanding of a lay justice, but there is no reason why such promotion should be burdensome and bureaucratic.