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Local Elections (Ordinary Day of Elections in 2009) Order 2008

My Lords, I am delighted to speak in this debate. It seems to me to be blindingly obvious that we ought to have the two elections at the same time, although I absolutely agree with my noble friend Lord Greaves that the answer should be to put this in proper legislation, rather than having to go through the process every five years. It makes sense to go ahead on that basis. The Explanatory Notes go on about returning officers and voters and that side of things. Perhaps the Minister would allow me to say a word for the political activists and the foot soldiers, which we no doubt are ourselves. As for having to go round twice in two months leafleting and canvassing and everything else that we do these days, although we are all enthusiastic enough to do it, on behalf of the foot soldiers of politics I can say that this is probably a good move. I declare an interest: I am a selected candidate for Cornwall unitary council. I want to ask a couple of questions about Cornwall. The Minister is absolutely right that the political consensus is for changing the boundaries—I think that it is 123 members—so there is a necessity to put the elections back to October. From a personal point of view, I think that that is wrong. I think that it should be the same number, which is 82, and that it should happen in June and we should just get on with it. It is just a method for more councillors to try to keep their jobs. I agree that that is the consensus and that is the way in which the Government have been requested to move forward. There is one area that I do not understand and which is important for accountability and democracy. In the order that we originally debated in the Moses Room several months ago, it was clear that the existing districts came to an end in April or at the beginning of May. How will the governance of Cornwall work, and who is responsible for what happens, between the end of the existing regime and the start of the new elected unitary authority in October next year? There is a long gap there, and I have no idea how local democracy will work during that time. As other noble Lords have said, I would also like to know when we are likely to know the actual date of the election and the timetable of the boundaries committee. My noble friend Lord Greaves mentioned parish elections. One of the other areas that came up when we debated the original order about unitary councils was that, I think in Cornwall and maybe in other places, parish elections were put off until something like 2013. The Government were going to think about that again. Have they thought any further about that? Lastly, when can we expect to have another order, which I presume has to be made, to confirm the Cornish arrangements? I thank the noble Earl and my noble friend Lord Greaves for raising many of these questions.