Localism Bill

My Lords, I have added my name to amendments in this group and I agree with everything that the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, has said. I am sure that most Members of this Committee, never mind of the whole House, will not spend a lot of time reading the details of Schedule 5 to the Bill and all the ways in which the Secretary of State will be able to lay down very detailed powers and instructions for local authorities on how to carry out council tax referendums. However, these measures are extraordinary, and typical of a huge amount in the Bill. If the Bill constitutes localism, it is extremely detailed top-down localism. I have seven amendments in this group, six of which are effectively the same. They seek to remove the description of high council tax increases as ““excessive””. The Bill says that if a council wants to impose a council tax increase which is higher than the Secretary of State thinks is appropriate, as agreed by the House of Commons, it will be described as excessive. This is bad legislation. The word is prejudicial rather than neutral and is almost a slogan. One of the things that the Secretary of State will be able to do is to determine the question in any referendum that takes place. I can imagine a question such as, ““Do you agree with your council that they should impose an excessive rise in the council tax this year?””. That is the effect of ““excessive””. Legislation should be neutral and should not use such words. My amendments seek to delete ““excessive”” and replace it with, "““higher than the level recommended by the Secretary of State under the provisions of this Chapter””." That is what the legislation should say. It should be value neutral and simply set out what the position is. Of course, if the noble Lord’s amendments were all passed, mine would be pre-empted and would fall. I would be delighted if that were the case as I would rather not have these detailed prescriptions there in the first place. However, if we are going to have them, we should use proper language and not political slogans. My Amendment 129LABA concerns the date of the referendum. It probes the Secretary of State’s ability to lay down detailed instructions on this and seeks to ascertain why councils cannot be left to deal with this themselves. However, this is in effect already covered by the rather more sweeping amendments of the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, and therefore I do not need to speak to it further.