Clause 68
Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]
11:45 am
Stewart Jackson (Shadow Minister, Communities and Local Government; Peterborough, Conservative)
We are not minded to support the Liberal Democrat amendments because they are not sufficiently robust and do not further our knowledge of how the clause would work in practice. In fact, they go against the Liberal Democrat protestations about wishing to focus primarily on a bottom-up process. The leaders’ board is an imperfect system, as my hon. Friend the Member for Wycombe made clear, and we will debate that in detail in the clause stand part debate, However, surely replacing the leaders’ boards is better than the opaque concept of a regional body, notwithstanding the problem that too much power may be vested in, for instance, one or two individuals in a local authority or in all the local authorities in the south-west. Therefore, we do not feel disposed to support the amendment and will have plenty to say about particular aspects of the clause in the clause stand part debate.