Canterbury City Council Bill

The hon. Gentleman is in grave danger of over-egging the pudding. Pedlars are, as he and his colleagues have argued, entrepreneurial by nature. I think that they are quite capable of finding out what is going on in different towns and city centres, and he is quite wrong to make that point. Some of his colleagues appear to accept the notion of a flexible national framework, and no doubt if that were implemented, there would be differences in different town centres under that approach. I do not see the force of his argument in practice or in relation to what is likely to be the legal reality. In conclusion, the work that has been put into the Bills by different city councils and the hon. Members who have sponsored and led on those Bills is to be commended. I hope that that work can act as a spur, a catalyst and an example for future legislation in this area.