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Parish Councils (Planning)

My hon. Friend asks whether there is an answer to the problem of the democratic deficit. Often, insufficient candidates put themselves forward to fulfil the job of parish councils. That happens in a very few cases in my constituency in west Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. The answer lies in the title of my hon. Friend’s debate—the implication that parish councils and parish councillors have little or no power. If they are given more power—the communes in France have power—we will find that people turn out for elections and that there is competition for the seats available. That is the case at the commune level in France, and no doubt the same would happen with parish councils throughout this country. Surely the answer is that we need to devolve some appropriate powers to parish councils.