---

Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

Like the noble Baroness, Lady Scott, I am more confused. I am totally against changing county boundaries; the unitaries that were created in Berkshire are all called ““Bracknell Forest, Berkshire”” et cetera. Say that a unitary was created between Yarmouth and Lowestoft. I suppose that that could be done across Norfolk and Suffolk, but some people in that unitary would live in Norfolk and some in Suffolk. That would be crazy; the idea is quite ridiculous. We do not often say that about government proposals, but it is more ridiculous than most things that I have heard to have a unitary across two counties. I am confused because there does not seem to be a bid that I would consider ridiculous in this round, so this provision is not very good at all. People who live in Romford, which went into London in 1964, still think that they live in Essex—and, in a way, would like to come back into it. People have a lot of natural affinity with their counties. We are going to have to come back to this at a later stage. I will not pursue it today, but there is a fundamental flaw in keeping this in the Bill. I will certainly come back to it to try to put it right.