Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]

I hear the hon. Gentleman, but I have said nothing about tenure, and from evidence we all know that mixing tenure is the right way forward. He spoke with a misty-eyed nostalgia for the 1970s, I think, when the rate of social house building was significantly higher. But how comfortable does he feel about representing a party that for the past 12 years has built social housing at half the rate of the previous Conservative Administration? That point requires some careful thought. It is depressing that a Bill with "Local Democracy" in its title contains almost nothing about freeing-up and empowering councils. The Government's distrust of democracy is such that the Bill's only gesture towards local involvement is a leaders' board. However, the board will have no right of veto, and, as a former party chairman, I can tell the House that a board's right of veto is often what gives it real teeth.