Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

Amendment No. 105 seeks to address the same issue, namely the proposed power for the Secretary of State to move the date of local government elections to coincide with that of European ones. My amendment seeks to alter the proposed six-month period to one year. I want to make it clear that I am only discussing the proposed power to coincide the date of local and European elections. It is not about a wider power to move the date of local elections. I have some sympathy with the sentiments just expressed by the noble Baroness, Lady Hanham. As a former county councillor, I fought two county council elections on the same date as general elections. There is no doubt issues become clouded and that county seats are won or lost on general election issues. That is a pity. It tends to add to the general sense that local government is somehow secondary and much less important than national government. Nevertheless, if one takes the view, which the Government clearly have taken, that the next set of local elections should be held on the same date as European ones, there are some merits in having a year’s notice period. From the Government’s point of view, I frankly cannot see the problem with a year’s notice because we know the dates of both those elections. However, it makes a difference from the point of view of councils. For example, council members who are due to retire will need to know that they have to serve an extra month. That might not sound very long. However, people sometimes move away or become less active as they come to the end of their terms of office. If they are expected to serve out an extra period, there are questions about the level of representation. A year’s notice gives the councils much more flexibility to alter standing orders and change dates of annual meetings and budget arrangements. The fact that the Electoral Commission is supporting one year’s notice should at least give the Government pause for thought that this might be a good idea. A year would be consistent with the existing legislation, the Representation of the People Act 1983. A general climate of cynicism exists about the manipulation of dates. The noble Baroness referred earlier to—heaven forfend—the idea that parish council election dates might be manipulated. If so, I am sure that that accusation could be levelled even more here, whereas a year takes some heat out of that.