Local Government Bill [HL]

My Lords, I shall speak also to Amendment 7 and to my intention to oppose the Question that Clause 2 shall stand part of the Bill. As we have discussed, on Monday 5 July, the High Court decided to quash, in their entirety, the structural change orders creating unitary councils for the cities of Exeter and Norwich. As a result, the terms of offices for one-third of the members of Exeter and Norwich city councils, which had been extended by the orders, ended on 5 July and the cities will need to arrange by-elections to fill those vacancies. Moreover, the decisions taken in March to implement the unitary proposals for Norwich and Exeter by the then Secretary of State are now overturned. Amendment 2 seeks to remove Clause 1(3) from the Bill. This subsection currently revokes the structural change orders for Exeter and Norwich which have just been quashed by the court. Consequently, the Bill no longer needs to revoke these orders and this subsection is no longer required. I have also made clear my intention to oppose the Question that Clause 2 stand part of the Bill. Clause 2 makes consequential electoral arrangements that would have deferred the elections of one-third of councillors from May 2010 to May 2011 on the revocation of the structural change orders. As the orders have been quashed by the court, they will no longer be revoked by the Bill and these consequential provisions will never be invoked and are no longer required. As I have explained, because of the quashing, these one-third of councillors are no longer councillors and have not been since 5 July when the orders were quashed. Amendment 7 will make consequential changes to the Long Title of the Bill, reflecting the removal of Clause 1(3) and Clause 2 from the Bill. The purpose of these amendments is to ensure that the Bill does not include unnecessary legislation, and correspondingly to ensure that parliamentary time is not taken up on debating legislation that is not required. For this reason, I would ask the Committee to support these amendments.