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Local and Regional Government

: I can respond and I am glad to have the opportunity to do so, because I think that the hon. Gentleman is misreading things in that respect. No regionalisation of primary care trusts is being proposed; it is the strategic health authorities that are being considered for regionalisation, and I remind hon. Members that they were regional not too long ago anyway. As I said, the decision on fire control is a sensible management and logistic decision, rather than a policy or political one. Similarly, the proposals for the police, which have been considered and consulted on, are not prescriptive or universal across the country. Amalgamations are proposed where clear benefits to the service can be brought about. The Government's policy is service improvement-led; it is certainly not about regionalisation. I am squeezed for time, although I am glad to be so, because it is good to see hon. Members taking part in the debate. None the less, let me say that I hope that the hon. Member for St. Ives appreciates that the Liberal Democrat party is in favour of elected regional assemblies. In this debate, however, he has said that very few powers could reasonably be held at regional level, and I do not quite see how the two policies square. At the same time, the hon. Member for Monmouth (David T.C. Davies) has said that he is not in favour of devolution and that it has all gone wrong. Therefore, the hon. Member for Monmouth is against devolution, the Liberal Democrat party and the hon. Member for Cambridge (David Howarth) are apparently in favour of devolution to the regions, but do not know what the regions should do, and the hon. Member for North-East Bedfordshire (Alistair Burt), who speaks for the official Opposition, accuses the Government of centralisation. The words ““pot”” and ““kettle”” come to mind.