Clause 27
Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]
1:15 pm
Julia Goldsworthy (Falmouth and Camborne, Liberal Democrat)
It is a pleasure to serve under your leadership—chairmanship, not leadership, Mr. Illsley, unless something more bizarre is going on. Bearing in mind what has already happened in Committee today, I would not be at all surprised if you had plans for world domination.
I shall make some general comments about freedoms of cities and towns. It is fantastic to recognise the hard work of citizens in such a way. It is a valuable honour to bestow. But once again, why is it necessary to set it down in primary legislation? I hope that the Minister will be able to clarify that matter. I understand the problem—some charters laying down how freemen and freewomen of a city or town are elected have become out of date and make it difficult to appoint women—but I am not entirely sure why that needs to be taken in hand in primary legislation.
I understand that such laws need to be more easily amendable, but why not free up the organisations on the ground to allow them to use their discretion? Some of the provisions are eminently sensible. The recognition of civil partners and spouses and the admission of women are welcome, but I am not entirely sure why the Bill needs to deal with whether we call them freemen or women.
As my hon. Friend the Member for North Cornwall pointed out to me, some of the qualifying resolutions require a majority of the existing freemen or women to elect the people whose names will be added. I wonder, as those people are often getting a little bit old, whether they might run out of numbers. I am slightly worried that, if the requirement is for freemen to nominate someone else to be given the freedom, there might not be enough of them around to make that decision. I wonder whether that issue needs to be addressed. It is an example of where we need to give more flexibility on the ground, rather than specifying things rigidly in primary legislation. However, everyone welcomes the principle that the clause is trying to achieve.