Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

moved Amendment No. 26: 26: After Clause 6, insert the following new Clause— ““Referendum in case of proposals for single tier of local government (1) In any proposals under sections 2 or 5 for a single tier of local government, the Secretary of State must hold a referendum on the proposals before taking any steps to implement them. (2) If the result of a referendum under subsection (1) is to reject the Secretary of State’s proposals under sections 2 or 5, the Secretary of State may not implement those proposals. (3) The Secretary of State must make regulations to specify the arrangements for any referendum required under this section.”” The noble Baroness said: This amendment moves us on in this debate on consultation because it suggests that it would be effective to have a referendum on these proposals. It would place a duty on the Secretary of State to hold a referendum before taking any steps to implement a unitary authority. I remind the Minister what the now ex-Deputy Prime Minister said on introducing unitary authorities. He said that, "““if you want to have a unitary, then you can have a ballot””." This Government claim that the Bill is devolutionary, but, as we have seen, it is only as devolutionary as a Secretary of State will allow it to be and is controlled quite heavily from Whitehall. Amendment No. 26 would guarantee that no community had any kind of structure of government forced on it without giving it an opportunity to vote on that. I accept that I am rather swimming upstream, but in trying to persuade a Government who willingly sign off fundamental British freedoms, we need to ensure that the people being affected have a right to add their views. Giving local electors the power to voice a preference represents a solid investment in the future of unitary councils, which is important. We, again, are getting mixed views on what happens when citizens’ juries take place and then another form of consultation takes place. The replies will be distorted and will not add up—one consultation will go one way and another consultation will go another. It would be settled by a referendum, because that is a vote of the people, which is then binding by the majority. I urge the Government to take up this amendment. I beg to move.