---

Manchester City Council Bill [Lords] (By Order)

Actually, I am. As the hon. Gentleman would expect, as a result of the publicity engendered by this legislation in the pedlar community, I have been the recipient of a fair number of representations. I shall say more about those representations later, in the context of the specific Bills that we are discussing, but in the meantime I can tell the hon. Gentleman that I have received strong representations about what has been going on in Leicester. Considerable concern has been caused by the fact that although Leicester city council's Bill was passed on the basis that its provisions would operate only in a limited part of the city, there is now a proposal to extend them throughout the city, to the detriment of people who have traditionally engaged in lawful peddling there. The answer to the hon. Gentleman's question is that the Bills that have been passed so far have not been a complete success by any means, and there is plenty of evidence to suggest that the Bills we are discussing today seek to go further than those that have already reached the statute book. There is, for example, the extension of legislation to the use of services—and Reading, the hon. Gentleman's local authority, is trying to deal with the issue of touting. Although touting is not covered by all six of these Bills, it is certainly an issue in the Reading Borough Council Bill and, if I recall correctly, also in the Canterbury City Council Bill.