Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [HL]

I shall reply to that point. My excursion into socialism and/or Methodism is prompted by the fact that I feel demob happy because my noble friend Lord Brett is taking the next three groups of amendments to the last part of the Bill. I am glad that he is doing that. I know that my noble friend Lord Patel has not done this, but I am sure that I have shown signs of irritation, which I regret. That is not what Ministers should do when faced with the scrutiny process. I am grateful to Members of the Committee for taking the time to go into the Bill and do their job. I am perfectly content with that, and I look forward to Report. On the questions of the noble Lord, Lord Hanningfield, as I follow the making of MAAs, albeit at a distance, I can tell him that the process is very much the same as for LAAs. The targets are voluntarily agreed by the partners and the local authorities. They then enter that process of negotiation, which he will understand, having been involved in an Essex LAA. There is a process of mediation and negotiation with government offices, and they are necessarily signed off by the Secretary of State. However, the process is more focused because, in the MAAs, there may be fewer targets than in LAAs generally. Again, if the noble Lord would benefit from my explaining the process in more detail, I would be happy to do so, and to share some of our examples of the sorts of protocols and agreements on flexibilities and so on that are sought.