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Proceeding contribution from Lord Dixon-Smith (Conservative) in the House of Lords on Monday, 8 October 2007. It occurred during Debate on bill on Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill.


Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for her explanation. I do not have any particular difficulty with the need for interim arrangements. If the decisions are taken I accept that something has to be done. I am not yet certain about the arrangements for the end of the interim arrangements. There does not seem to be any definition of that. At what time and at what point does the Electoral Commission reassume its proper role and do these things as a result of proper study, rather than as an ad hoc arrangement on the basis of existing arrangements? After all, we have created a whole structure of new arrangements which are different, and one might have thought—perish the thought—that some new electoral arrangements might be more appropriate than those which existed prior to the change. In fact, I would have thought that was a sort of sine qua non of the whole process. I accept that we are in a difficult situation. The noble Baroness will be prepared to hear that that is the case. I shall look with great care at what she has said, but I think that—I make a sort of request at this stage—we need to look carefully at the longer term strategic interests on this issue. Therefore, I am happy to withdraw the amendment at this stage, but perhaps with the assurance that we could all look at it again before Third Reading with a view to getting some sort of conclusion which would satisfy everybody.


Secondary information

Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
695 c100 
Session
2006-07
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamber
Subjects
Constituencies Councillors Administration County councils Elections Functions District councils Local government Recruitment Staff Boundary Commission for England Mayors
Legislation
Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill 2006-07
Link
View this Proceeding contribution on www.publications.parliament.uk