Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [HL]

I am disappointed to hear the response from the noble Baroness. My noble friend made it very clear that at this stage this is a probing amendment which raises an important point. We all share the wish to encourage people to become councillors. If an individual approaches the local authority and asks, ““How do I do it?””, should the response simply be, as my noble friend said, to send them the nomination form and papers, let them go off to find 10 people to sign them and then send them in? That is what one needs to do to become a councillor. Or is it more helpful to recognise the reality in the vast majority of areas in this country? Most candidates are sponsored by the political parties and the reality is that on most councils most councillors belong to those political parties. There is nothing in this amendment to suggest that councils should promote any or all of the political parties. This is not about the promotion of the parties at all. It is simply to explain the reality that if a person wants to become elected in an area, they should at least consider going through a political party of their choice or understand the implications if they choose not to. It is a free choice. The second part of the amendment raises an important point, which I come up against quite often, although not in this connection. How restricted does one have to be as a local authority in dealing with any matters that could be held to be party political? Certainly, I understood this amendment to be seeking clarification. It will be on record in Hansard. We may have to return to it. The position will be clear, whatever the Minister may say. Let me be clear—I am sure that my noble friend does not need me to say this—this is not about asking local authorities to promote political parties or to say to people, ““If you want to be a councillor in this area, you will have to join the Labour Party””. It is simply for the local authority to say that most candidates will be sponsored by a political party. That is the reality. If a person wants to consider that, these are the contact details that we would ask each of the registered parties to supply. It is simply about relaying information. Of course, the political parties should do that, as I am sure they do, and will indeed seek candidates, but we are talking in this context about the role of the local authority as distinct from the political parties. Somebody who wants to respond to the local authority fulfilling this duty needs to know the reality of the situation. At this stage, local authorities need the reassurance that if they supply the contact details of their local political parties, they will not fall foul of this provision.