Manchester City Council Bill [Lords](By Order)

The hon. Gentleman made a particularly interesting point in his speech: when the definition of pedlars in the 1871 Act was framed, people were much less mobile. There were no motor cars; one could not simply hop in a motor car and go from Manchester to Bournemouth and cause a nuisance there. We live in a totally different age and face a different problem from the one faced by our forefathers when the Act was introduced. The hon. Gentleman made the interesting point in his previous intervention that one or two or even half a dozen pedlars might not cause a nuisance, but if several hundred pedlars are present in one point, which I understand is the issue faced by my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth, East, the scale of the problem is very different. Pedlars are also a problem, even if they are acting within the law, if they undercut the lawful competition of ordinary street traders. As has been said, a pedlar can get a pedlars certificate for £12.71, whereas the average licence for a street trader is between £500 and £700—a different order of magnitude. Different laws apply to street traders from those that apply to pedlars. On the whole, the law for pedlars is easier than the law for street traders, which is quite onerous in many respects. If the Bills fall today, will the Minister undertake on behalf of the Government to have a comprehensive, overarching look at the whole issue of street trading, including market traders and pedlars, with a view to bringing forward legislation when time allows? Does he agree that dealing with the matter on an authority-by-authority basis is unsatisfactory, for the reasons adduced in the debate today—notably, the distortional effect and the different regimes encompassed by each individual local authority Bill? If he will undertake a review of the whole subject, how long does he expect that to take, and when might he conclude a review and bring forward legislation? If we can get solid answers to those problems, he will have moved the whole matter forward. The House would then congratulate the hon. Member for Bolton, South-East on having originally raised and tried to solve the matter on a national basis, which is surely the approach on which the Government ought to make progress. We look forward very much to hearing the Minister's comments.