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Manchester City Council Bill [Lords] and Bournemouth Borough Council Bill [Lords]

I shall be brief, as I had not intended to speak in the debate. We have heard a great deal about the merits of the Bills, but the issue tonight is whether such Bills should be revived. It is rather like an LBW decision. All the boxes must be ticked to make sure that they apply, so that the Bills can be revived. The first question is whether the promoters of the Bills have made a case for bringing them back. The Standing Orders suggest that such Bills should not be brought back, because the process would not exist if Parliament thought they should automatically be brought back. The argument is a technical one about whether the promoters have made the case that there is an exceptional reason to bring the Bills back, and whether anything has changed. The Minister put the Government's case succinctly. Clearly, things have changed and there may well be national legislation. Would the promoters of the Bills lose out by not having them revived tonight? We heard that the cost of bringing the Bills back at a later stage would not be significant, but that proceeding with the Bills now in Committee would be very expensive for the councils. Is it possible that taxpayers in those areas would say, "If my council had only waited a little while, there would have been national guidelines and a national process, and we needn't have wasted that money"? On balance, the case for revival has unfortunately not been made strongly enough for me to support it. Question put. The House divided: Ayes 234, Noes 10.