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Planning and Energy Bill

Bearing in mind your rigid strictures, Madam Deputy Speaker, I will not give the warm words of praise to that eager partnership that I would have given otherwise. My hon. Friend's new clause 1 is permissive: he is saying what a local authority may do, not what it shall do, which is implicit in the Bill as drafted. House prices are falling. If one talks to builders such as Mr. Dempsey in my constituency, to whom I talked last week, they will say that in a falling house market, margins are shaved. Even though it goes against the grain of my hon. Friend's naturally liberal and permissive nature, has he given any thought to whether new clause 1 should be an instruction, rather than a permission?