Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

I have the advantage not only of the hon. Gentleman’s intervention, but of a phone call from Lord Greaves, who is a councillor on Pendle borough council and who has his own views on these matters, as the House would expect. My answer to the hon. Member for Pendle is that the Government have not been fair and straightforward with the House. Many of us understood that in relation to the creation of unitaries, it was the Government’s intention to have a restricted number—almost a small tidying-up operation. However, by casting their net so widely, they have set all sorts of hares running in various directions. The information that we have heard from Shropshire and Shrewsbury, from Lancashire, from Pendle and from practically every other county area—Cheshire is an example known to me more personally—shows that there are strong views and strong voices raised in every direction, often by members of the same political party pulling in different directions. I note in passing that despite the letter that went out from the right hon. Member for Witney (Mr. Cameron) to all his councillors around the country, many of them are strongly engaged in that as well. There is no commitment from the Government in the Bill to rebuilding a strong democratic society, and no vision for the future of grass-roots democracy. We will vote against the Bill today and seek to improve it in Committee. The Government have lost the respect of those of us who believe that local democracy should be the core of our national democracy.