London Local Authorities Bill [Lords]

The hon. Gentleman is making a thoughtful speech. On the question of public lavatories—I find it difficult to use the word ““toilet”” myself; I prefer ““lavatory””; interestingly, the heading of the clause refers to ““toilets””, but the body of the clause uses ““lavatory””—does he not agree that the provision will lead to regressive taxation? There is no question but that we all want public lavatories to be readily available; the question is how we pay for that. Does the local authority pay for it as a responsibility under council tax or should it be the users who pay? If the cost were £1, £2 or £5, that would be a regressive tax. I do not mind paying that for a lovely, splendid, gleaming public lavatory, but what about the poor young family on benefits with five children? What will they do?