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Local Government (Devon, Norfolk and Suffolk)

I will come to the reasons why, having looked at all the proposals before us, we took the decisions we did. The hon. Gentleman came to see me. He was opposed to all forms of unitary local government in Norfolk. The logic of his argument is that if we looked totally on cost grounds, Norfolk would revert to unitary local government. I do not understand where that argument is going, or what the Opposition are proposing. I shall now remind the House how the Government took the matter forward once we received the boundary committee's advice. First, we allowed a six-week period for representations to be made. The Secretary of State and I then had before us seven unitary proposals. We had the boundary committee's recommended proposal for a single county unitary council for Norfolk, and Norwich city council's original proposal for a unitary Norwich; the boundary committee's recommended proposal for a single county unitary council for Devon, and Exeter city council's original proposal for a unitary Exeter; and the boundary committee's recommended proposals for a single county unitary for Suffolk, a proposal for a split two-county unitary, and Ipswich borough council's original proposal for a unitary Ipswich.