Human Rights Act 1998 (Meaning of Public Authority)

I oppose the Bill, which illustrates the trouble into which a well intended Government get when they decide to rely on the courts and human rights legislation instead of Parliament and representative democracy. It is good of the hon. Member for Hendon (Mr. Dismore) to highlight the gross inadequacies in the drafting of the original Bill and the way in which the Government’s intentions have miscarried. I can understand why he is helpfully trying to get the Government out of their hole. It is instructive that Ministers, with all their access to legal advice and help, have not come forward with a similar measure, properly drafted by parliamentary draftsmen. They clearly believe that it is a treacle well into which they could sink deeper. I want to make a simple point. The hon. Member for Hendon is attacking the actions of several elected councils—quite a few of them are probably Labour councils. He claims that they do not stand up for the most vulnerable in their community. Surely we, in the senior representative democratic forum in the country, should believe in the democratic system and in putting right such problems in provision by democratic challenge in the council chamber and through the intervention of councillors over their officers and over the supervision of contracts. If too many councillors have consented to too many bad contracts and vulnerable people are being damaged, that is a disgrace and it should be sorted out in the normal democratic way. If the councillors responsible cannot sort it out, I hope that their electors will take the necessary action at the ensuing council elections to change the management. Surely the hon. Member for Hendon must accept that the matter illustrates only too well that reliance on the law and the human rights panoply does not work and that we need to get a vibrant democracy again so that, in each council chamber as well as in this Chamber, we can get justice for people and action from Ministers and ruling councillor groups who otherwise are not doing their job. Question put, pursuant to Standing Order No. 23 (Motions for leave to bring in Bills and nomination of Select Committees at commencement of public business), and agreed to. Bill ordered to be brought in by Nia Griffith, Mary Creagh, Dr. Evan Harris, Mr. Douglas Carswell, Ms Karen Buck, Clive Efford, Angela Eagle, Joan Ruddock, Mr. Paul Burstow and Mr. Andrew Dismore.