Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

I certainly understand the point that the hon. Lady makes, but the model that Stoke has was set up by statute—by the Secretary of State’s predecessor—and it is a harsh judgment by the Secretary of State on her predecessor that she is now going to abolish the only working model. Whatever the merits of the case in Stoke-on-Trent—I do not want to intrude on the hon. Lady’s private grief—if local government had restored to it the right of self-determination on its internal governance, that would not be an issue for her or the House.