Police and Justice Bill

There is no difference in the long run. In practice, mergers by 2007 were going to be very difficult to achieve. We are simply seeing them put off perhaps to 2008. But we end up with the same result. I know that HMIC does extremely valuable work. This report has aroused much interest and has been criticised in parts. All I have said throughout is that there are other sources of information that the Government should also take seriously, one of which is from the Association of Police Authorities and the police forces themselves which have the day-to-day experience of what is required in local areas. They feel that the federation model has not been given a fair run, a model that was not ruled out by the HMIC report. But I certainly do not wish to re-run that part of the debate which we had earlier today. I was seeking to look forward to the slightly different aspect of cost effectiveness. Perhaps I may turn briefly to Amendment No. 61, which refers to the need to hold referendums locally. The Minister replied in the same vein as the reply given to my honourable friend in another place; namely, that the drafting of the amendment is defective. I have to confess that I purposely chose it to be so because I knew that I did not wish to press it to a Division today. I accept entirely what she said about the wording of the question to be put in the referendum; that is, that it would extend to an unusual extent the role of the Electoral Commission. The Minister also referred to the fact that there would be a referendum even if a merger is agreed. I suppose one could ask: why shouldn’t a small area be able to prevent a merger? Indeed, on the argument that I made earlier on Amendment No. 14, it may well be that a police authority in a small area, be it Gloucestershire or West Mercia, ought to be able to say: ““No, we feel this is not right for us and it should not go ahead””. I therefore suspect that when the amendment comes back the Minister will see little change. On the Electoral Commission, however, I assure her that I shall seek some redrafting before re-presenting it to the House. At this stage, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. [Amendment No. 61 not moved.]