Local Government

No. I am going to come on to the hon. Gentleman's point about the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister told him in response to a question:"““Of course we will listen… the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government or I will be pleased to meet him after that action””" —the judicial action that his council is pursuing—"to discuss the next step forward.””—[Official Report, 4 July 2007; Vol. 462, c. 950.]" Of course, the hon. Gentleman's local authority spent heavily in the courts and lost in the High Court. The appeal was heard at the end of January and we await that judgment. My right hon. Friend has not broken any of the commitments that he gave to the hon. Gentleman. The Electoral Commission will examine the issue of large wards during the review before the May 2009 elections. I say to the hon. Member for Ludlow that if this were about simply reducing the number of Conservative councillors, why is this proposal being put forward by a Conservative-led council?