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County Durham (Structural Change) Order 2008

I am happy to confirm what I said earlier in response to the title of County Durham Council. We shall be writing. The noble Lord has made his views clear on the record, which is helpful. I partially answered the noble Baroness. We were interrupted by a Division and I did not come back to the point, but I shall state it as clearly as I can because it will be helpful. The position on the elections is that we are providing for elections in Durham and Northumberland in 2008 and in 2013. After the 2008 elections, the Electoral Commission will undertake an electoral review of the wards and the electoral divisions. It is for the commission to decide—and it has the last word on these things—whether the new warding should be implemented in 2013 or whether there is a case to be made for earlier special elections in 2010. We made it clear from last August, when we put out the consultation document, that stability is important and councils need to bed down. Although it is a longer period than usual, there are real advantages in having this time. We expect the Electoral Commission to consult fully and widely before deciding whether to have an extra 2010 election. The new council will have to make its case to the commission about the implications of that. We expect the commission to give careful consideration to all those representations that they receive and the arguments, including the case for stability.