That is always a problem, but in that eventuality, if the amendment were passed, an independent panel would keep an eye on it to ensure that, if the Minister were not the one who is in the Chamber now but someone more malign than he, it would be possible for the independent panel to blow the whistle and say, “You have not given people in this particular area”—whether it was Enfield, Stoke or anywhere else in the country—“a chance to prove that this part of the devolution of the health service is working effectively. You have a particular view”—perhaps in connection with the need
to react to a scandal or a financial problem—“and you are not acting on the basis of the good of the people in the area, but retrieving from them their ability to devolve effectively and use health powers effectively.”
8.30 pm
The Minister looks puzzled. I am at a loss to understand why he would not want that safeguard if he were not the Minister involved. If he were a humble Back Bencher like the rest of us—which he was, not so long ago—he might be a little concerned about the fact that someone in the Government might not have people’s best interests at heart because he or she had a bigger, broader plan in mind. That is the opposite of devolution.
I am seeking to create an obstacle—it may be a flimsy barrier, but perhaps the mouse can squeak at the steamroller—to prevent this aspect of devolution from disappearing once again into the black hole of Whitehall, given the power of Whitehall and the massive centre of gravity that it constitutes in our tremendously over-centralised political system.