Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

The hon. Gentleman made powerful interventions on the Secretary of State to make it clear that the people had spoken in his area, and that they deserve to be listened to. But where is that provided for in the Bill? He cannot see it, and nor can we. How is a ““broad measure of support””—the weasel words in the White Paper—to be calculated? How is that to be weighed against what is on the face of the Bill, which is what the Minister believes is in the best interests? How cringe-making some of the words in the White Paper are. It talks of a ““permissive approach””—and there is the wonderful phrase from the Secretary of State:"““we must have the courage at the centre to let go.””" Can anyone recognise that about this Labour Government? It sounds like a melodramatic mum appealing to a child in a ’30s or ’40s northern drama, not letting her children out of her sight to go into a cruel world. This Government would not know what letting go was if they confronted it. This Bill highlights a fundamental divide between the two main parties, which is about the willingness to let go. Labour is addicted to power and control. From health to education, and local government to the police, everything that has a public element must be within its grasp. Every public service that one can think of has been driven almost demented with target after target, their discretion fettered and their professionalism compromised. Devolution of power is at the heart of the issue. There is a sharp contrast between the Conservative party’s approach to the issue—as shown in our commitment to the Sustainable Communities Bill introduced by my hon. Friend the Member for Ruislip-Northwood (Mr. Hurd) and our opposition to this Bill and its unjustifiable powers to direct councils—and the Government’s hostile and reluctant attitude to the Sustainable Communities Bill and their determination to push through this Bill regardless of its constitutional outrage. Letting go is not easy. It is against the conventional norms of government in this country over the past 30 years or so—[Interruption.] I said 30. It is completely against every fibre of the Treasury’s being, yet the evidence is that as the central Government stranglehold on local government has increased, the participation of the public at the ballot box has decreased. Coupled with that is a sense of powerlessness at local level: it does not matter what we think or say, because the Government will decide. People think that if their council follows the Government’s agenda it will be praised and congratulated, and given the pretence of making its own decisions—but if the council goes its own way, it will be marked down in assessments and its people will pay.