Wiltshire (Structural Change) Order 2008

My Lords, I crave the forgiveness of the House because I came in on the end of the remarks made by the noble Lord, Lord Geddes. However, I was struck by something that he said about awaiting a decision affecting both Wiltshire and Congleton Borough Council. I will be taking the opportunity to oppose what the Government propose for Cheshire next Tuesday, but my attention was drawn by the words not only of that noble Lord but of the noble Lord, Lord Elton, and the noble Baroness, Lady Hollis. It is absolutely imperative that, if we are to carry these orders—and, indeed, the order for Cheshire—the criterion of consensus that the Government have demanded is reflected in the ability of the people in these counties to pronounce on them. In the case of Cheshire—I shall be exploring this further next Tuesday evening—I know for certain that the Government are refusing to publish information about the comments received by interested parties, whereas that is not the case in relation to Wiltshire. I repeat the comments made by the noble Lord, Lord Elton, about the necessity of finding proper consensus and, if necessary, delaying orders. That is something with which the Government should particularly concern themselves, especially as, in the case of Cheshire, they are splitting up an authority that has successfully existed for many hundreds of years and are thus trespassing on the sentiments of people in Cheshire, whose comments made through plebiscite or, indeed, in response to the Government’s proposals indicate that they would like a single unitary council, not two unitary councils. I hope that that can be respected. I also hope that, if something is missing or lacking in the orders before us today with respect to a proper consensus being found, the Government will delay in order to repair this deficit.