Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [HL]

We finally come to Amendment 54, which seeks to restrict the powers of the Secretary of State under Clause 2(6). Clause 2(6)(a) states that the Secretary of State can add persons to the list of connected authorities. I am not challenging that. Clause 2(6)(b) states that the Secretary of State can, "““cause any person to cease to be””" such a connected authority. However, if they comprise a valid authority, why should the Secretary of State be able to remove them? Reference has been made to the whims of councils. I sometimes talk about the whims of Secretaries of State whose decisions often seem to become erratic over time. That is not because they change their mind but because Secretaries of State change so often. Who knows, we may have a change of government before too long. I say ““may”” because personally I would not count on it. People ought to understand that Secretaries of State change. We say that if an organisation is valid and the list is valid, the organisation should not be removed, and that the Secretary of State should be able to remove organisations only if they cease to exist. If the Government want to remove an organisation, they should legislate for that. The Bill says that the Secretary of State can change functions. We argue that he should be able to do so only if the functions of the authority change, and in order to introduce more functions. This seems fairly straightforward. We are trying to give local authorities more power and the Secretary of State less, and this is one of a series of amendments which try gently to achieve that aim. I beg to move.