§ 25. Mr. Huntasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government whether he will seek to enlarge the terms of reference of the Royal Commission on Local Government so as to enable them to consider the growing practice of a number of borough councils within the Greater London area to set up policy committees specifically excluding representatives of the minority group from their deliberations.
§ Mr. GreenwoodNo, Sir. I understand that Sir John Maud's Committee on Management in Local Government are considering the working of the committee system, including no doubt the practice to which the hon. Member refers.
§ Mr. HuntWill the right hon. Gentleman not at least strongly condemn this deplorable practice, now adopted by the Labour-controlled Camden and Lewisham Borough Councils, which means that in those two boroughs Conservative councillors are being deliberately excluded from the policy-making of councils to which they have been democratically elected?
§ Mr. GreenwoodI must resist the hon. Gentleman's invitation for me to be too grandmotherly in my approach to local authorities. The law allows them to set up whatever committees they wish and to decide the conditions under which they are to operate. I see no reason to take any action in anticipation of the report which Sir John Maud will no doubt present.
§ Mr. HamlingIn view of the housing shortage in Bromley, does not my right hon. Friend think that the hon. Member for Bromley (Mr. Hunt) would be better concerned with his own affairs?
§ Mr. RipponDoes not the Minister nevertheless agree that this practice is as unprecedented as it is undesirable?
§ Mr. GreenwoodI see no reason for saying that it is ipso facto undesirable. If the right hon. Gentleman could produce any evidence that it is producing adverse effects, I will look at it again, but for the moment I see no reason to depart from the law as it stands.