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Manchester City Council Bill [Lords] (By Order)

It may well have been established by Maidstone council, but my right hon. Friend will know from having looked at the detail of the six Bills before us that they vary in significant ways from many of the measures in the Maidstone legislation that is now on the statute book. One consequence of this piecemeal legislation is that problems that may have been evident in a particular locality are then transferred to another. My hon. Friend the Member for Cotswold (Mr. Clifton-Brown) made that point from the Front Bench on Second Reading, arguing that there was a strong case for looking at this issue on a national rather than a local basis.