Wiltshire (Structural Change) Order 2008

The noble Lord is quite right: two-thirds did not. I cannot argue with that. I was making a general point about the Electoral Reform Society. Many districts commissioned their own polls by postal votes, campaign cards and so on, and the Electoral Reform Society was involved in collecting the product, but it was not a supervisory agency in the way that it is when we put postal voting in place for elections. There is not that degree of scrutiny, so you do not always know that you are getting what you seem to be getting. The Ipsos MORI poll was done with orthodox polling: you ask questions and you get a different sort of result. We have dealt with the situation in relation to the JR. I hope the noble Lord thinks that we dealt with that sufficiently. Finally, as much as I would like to be able to accept his suggestion to withdraw the order, I am afraid I have to resist it. It is very interesting to read the debate in the other place. Tribute was paid to the leader of the council, Jane Scott, in relation to the capacity of the new council to deliver on its promises as set out in the unitary proposal. Members of Parliament who had been bitterly opposed at various stages of the process came round to say that this proposal is in safe hands and can be made to work with that leader. We recognise that it is important to give that support at this stage.