Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

moved Amendment No. 62: 62: Clause 32, page 19, line 10, at end insert— ““( ) A council must not pass a resolution under this section until a period equivalent to at least two full four year electoral cycles has passed since the last time any such resolution was passed or since the existing electoral scheme was started.”” The noble Lord said: We move on to Part 2 of the Bill, galloping through the pages to the ever-exciting issue of elections. We are now debating Chapter 1, on the power of district councils in England to change their systems and specifically their schemes for elections, which basically means whether they have elections once every four years, two years or annually with one fallow year—so three years in four. In moving Amendment No. 62, I shall also speak to Amendments Nos. 73 and 84. They are all the same amendment but relate to different circumstances. I have tabled a number of related groups of amendments, all of which seek to free up the ability of local authorities and councils to decide their own electoral arrangements without undue imposition from the centre. As for electoral arrangements, there clearly has to be quite a lot of controlled supervision of local authorities, more than in many other areas. By the very nature of elections, if authorities are simply allowed to do what they want and how they want in any circumstances, some might behave in somewhat undesirable ways in order to preserve the election and office of those who are there at the moment. I accept that there have to be detailed rules and regulations about elections and safeguards laid down, but many of the restrictions that the Government are proposing, and which already exist in many cases, are too great. The first amendment is a fairly straightforward, simple one. It says that once a scheme for a particular election—whether it is whole council, by halves or by thirds—has been approved, it will not be changed until there have been two subsequent elections, which seems a reasonable time period. I think that is what the Government are saying in their more complicated elections that refer to particular dates and all the rest of it. If that is what they are saying, they should say it in a nice simple way, which is what I have offered them here. I beg to move.