§ 10. Mr. McAvoyTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many people signed responses to the consultation paper the "Structure of Local Government in Scotland" calling for a local council for Cambuslang and Rutherglen.
§ Mr. Allan StewartWe have received 2,364 individual letters and postcards as well as a 44-signature petition requesting a local council for Rutherglen and Cumbuslang.
§ Mr. McAvoyThe Minister will be aware that each of those submissions carried more than one signature and that in addition there was full-scale support for a local council at public meetings at Halfway, Cambuslang and Rutherglen. Moreover, a parliamentary petition to that effect has been signed by 12,000 people. Does the Minister accept that the people of Halfway, Cambuslang and Rutherglen have made it clear that they want a local council and that if the Government mean what they say about listening to local communities, they will have to deliver what a former Tory Government took away in 1973—a local council for Halfway, Cambuslang and Rutherglen?
§ Mr. StewartThe whole House will recognise that those are pretty impressive statistics. My right hon. Friend has emphasised that the reorganisation of local government in Scotland is to be people driven. We are consulting on these matters; there may be a case for a local council in Rutherglen and Cambuslang more closely in line with the hon. Gentleman's constituency. But I cannot give the hon. Gentleman an absolute assurance—not today anyway.