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Manchester City Council Bill [Lords](By Order)

I had not yet got on to Nottingham. I was going to begin by discussing Bournemouth, because that is closer to home and my constituency. Those hon. Members who were not able to listen to BBC Radio Solent this morning might like to know that on it, Mark Smith, Bournemouth borough council's head of tourism, asserted that he thought one of the problems in Bournemouth town centre was that pedlars were harassing people. Many people subsequently phoned in, e-mailed or sent text messages to BBC Radio Solent saying that they disagreed fundamentally with what he had said. The context of that discussion was very much that the case had not been proved for introducing such draconian changes to the law on a unilateral basis, which is what Bournemouth borough council intends to do. May I briefly share with the House some correspondence that I have had with the store manager of Marks & Spencer in Bournemouth? He wrote to me expressing concern about my attitude to the Bournemouth Borough Council Bill. I wrote back saying:"““You say that the Pedlars Act is a piece of legislation from Victorian times. That is obviously correct but am I not also correct in recalling that it was under pedlars legislation that Marcus Sieff was able to build up the large business with which you are now associated?””" He has not responded to that question. I also asked him:"““Why should those who wish to sell balloons””" —the people who at the beginning of an entrepreneurial career—"““to tourists in Bournemouth not be allowed to do so?””" I have yet to receive a response to that either.