I concur that a constitutional convention would be very sensible, as my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham North (Mr Allen) said.
I hear the idea of a hotel tax in London—I hope it is not on my constituents coming down for an good overnight stay, but on those coming from abroad. I am not sure a hotel tax would work particularly well in Bassetlaw, although it is worth considering. I recall that until the last few years Welbeck Estates levied £3 on every tonne of coal produced for a century. If local government had been allowed to do that, Bassetlaw would be a very different place, because the infrastructure and so on would have been appropriately remunerated for the coal that we provided for the rest of the country in wartime and in peacetime, at great cost. That concept of local decision making is a very good one, so I would accord with the idea, but I hope there would be some exemptions to anything that is done in relation to the good people of Bassetlaw.
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My questions are solely on the technicalities, as I see a few ambiguities here. There seems to have been a bit of a rush to get into the model being used. Nobody in my area or elsewhere would know about D2N2, but it is apparently Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, and it is deciding that it might want this model, rather late in the day. I am sure Derby is a wonderful place, but I cannot say I have visited it very often and so I do not know how wonderful it is. Like most of my constituents, I am a little unknowing of the joys of Derby. What we have in
common with Derby I have no idea, but it is certainly not economic, social, cultural or in any way to do with business, including shopping. Things cobbled together are likely to be rejected if they are put to the people.
That highlights another genuine problem, no matter how enthusiastic or not one is for this concept: Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire each has a unitary authority, and we have two-tier authorities, so putting another level of governance on top, with another elected politician, creates more politicians, with deputy mayors to be appointed as well. Different parties have views on how that should be done, but it means more politicians. The inevitable consequence of creating such an entity would be that either the districts or the counties would disappear —it would be interesting if the Minister clarified that. There would be unitary authorities of some kind within the combined authority. Otherwise, we would have potentially competing authorities representing some areas, set against single-voiced authorities. It is very clear that, no matter who is running them, the unitary authorities will have far more power and influence, because they will be speaking with one coherent voice whereas the two-tier authorities will not be. Those bodies may well be competing, and because the larger county authorities could be controlled by people from an entirely different district, that could be to the disbenefit of any particular district and a huge potential conflict could be created.
Logically, if it is a good idea and people want it—councillors, politicians and the people—there should be clarity that it will result at some stage in the foreseeable future in fewer councillors, rather than more. That is an important principle. I have argued repeatedly over the years for unitary authorities, and I have always thought that having too many paid councillors is a bad idea and that reducing the number will lead to more efficiency. In areas such as mine, we are talking not just about those two tiers and a third tier that could appear if this is agreed in D2N2—it is not the best of names—but about 60 parish councils as well. I would shift a little bit of power to them—for example, a few of the planning powers. Giving slightly more power to parish councils, particularly on planning issues, would doubtless get a lot of support from those on the Government Benches. Therefore, we have an absurd level of tiers if one is not stripped out.
Clarity on that issue would be useful, as would clarity on the issue of democracy. Will the people of Bassetlaw, Bolsover, Chesterfield, north-east Derbyshire or the Derbyshire Dales be able to choose where they go? That is a fundamental question. We could have a situation in which we have two mayors. Now, if there is one thing that is worse than having one mayor it is having two mayors. We could have a mayor for D2N2—I am sure that the turnout for the election would be dramatically high as it was for that of police commissioners—elected at the same time as the mayor for Sheffield city region. We need a level of certainty. Without question, if we are talking about economics and transport, our money and influence should go to Sheffield city region, because that is where the link is. That is simply a fact. There is no ambiguity there. We link in on health as well—I will not stray into that debate as it is coming up next—but that has already happened. The skills budget has gone as well, with North Nottinghamshire college in my area now merging with Rotherham college in Sheffield city region.
It is essential that we have the choice and that we do not get bundled into something, either deliberately or accidentally, that does not work for us. I do not think that that is the Government’s aim—