§ 17. Mr. Boyd-Carpenterasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the proposals for changes in the law relating to local government elections which he has recently circulated to certain local authorities.
§ Mr. Merlyn ReesWe have written to the local authority associations on proposals to abolish the non-resident qualification for electors and, in England and 1067 Wales, the qualification for candidates based on property.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterCan the hon. Gentleman say what reaction he has had from the local authorities to the proposals in Clause 15 of the Bill apart from that from the Greater London Council, the largest of them all, which has said that it is against them?
§ Mr. ReesMost of the local authority associations which replied were against them. Scotland is in rather a different position. But, in the end, it is up to the Government to decide what to do, and what we have decided is in the Bill.