Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [HL]

I join in the general expressions of good will, and start by thanking the Minister for reminding me of my Methodist upbringing as well. I shall try to resist the temptation to stray into a debate on the nature of socialism. I merely recognise that it is possibly the first time that that word has been used in this place for a number of years. In my Methodist upbringing, all the Methodists I knew were Liberals, and that was in the days when it was all right to call yourself a socialist. That was a very large group of amendments. We have covered a lot of ground—indeed, a whole Part of the Bill—and have all expressed at least general support to multi-area agreements. I think that the Minister herself said that she would need to read Hansard to know and understand what she had or had not said. That certainly applies to the rest of us. I thank her very much for her full reply to those amendments. I shall certainly read Hansard carefully. Even more importantly, my absent friend Lady Hamwee will read it especially carefully. We will consider what we may wish to do further at a later stage. In the mean time, I join in the general thanks to the Minister and the noble Lord, Lord Patel, for their patience and tolerance throughout our consideration of the Bill. If there have been occasional moments of irritation on the part of the Minister, we on this side of the Committee simply put that down to the recognition that we were right and that that part of the Bill was clearly wrong. It is understandable that anyone would feel irritated at being put in that position. With that, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment 197B withdrawn. Amendment 197C not moved. Clause 116 agreed. Clause 117 : Local authorities Amendment 197D not moved. Clause 117 agreed. Clause 118 : Partner authorities Amendments 198 and 198A not moved. Clause 118 agreed. Clause 119 : Proposal for multi-area agreement Amendments 198B to 198D not moved. Clause 119 agreed. Clause 120 : Direction to prepare and submit draft multi-area agreement Amendments 198E to 198H not moved. Clause 120 agreed. Clause 121 : Preparation of draft multi-area agreement Amendments 198J and 198K not moved. Clause 121 agreed. Clauses 122 to 124 agreed. Clause 125 : Duty to have regard to improvement targets Amendments 199 and 200 not moved. Clause 125 agreed. Clauses 126 and 127 agreed. Clause 128 : Preparation of revision proposal Amendment 201 not moved. Clause 128 agreed. Clauses 129 to 131 agreed. Clause 132 : Interpretation Amendment 202 had been withdrawn from the Marshalled List. Clause 132 agreed. Clause 133 : Requirement for construction contracts to be in writing Amendment 203 had been withdrawn from the Marshalled List.