§ 6.12 p.m.
§ House again in Committee.
§
Lord Broadbridge moved Amendment No. 2:
Before Clause 1, insert the following new clause:
§ ("Referenda
§ .—(1) Before the 1st April 1986 a referendum shall be held in Greater London and each metropolitan county in accordance with Schedule (Referenda) to this Act on the question whether effect is to be given to the provisions of this Act as regards Greater London or the Metropolitan county, as the case may be.
§ (2) If it appears to the Secretary of State that less than 40 per cent. of the persons entitled to vote in a referendum in any of the areas mentioned in subsection (1) above have voted "Yes" in reply to the question posed in the Appendix to Schedule (Referenda) to this Act or that a majority of the answers given in any such referendum have said "No" he shall lay before Parliament the draft of an Order in Council for the exclusion of Greater London or the metropolitan county, as the case may be, from the provisions of this Act.
§ (3) If a draft laid before Parliament under this section is approved by a resolution of each House, Her Majesty in Council may make an Order in the terms of the draft.").
§ The noble Lord said: As I mentioned in my Second Reading speech, I wish to put before noble Lords a proposal that provision should be made for a referendum in the GLC and the metropolitan counties before this Bill can become law. A schedule to the Bill detailing the exact wording of the proposed referendum is also presented to the Committee as Amendment No. 25, on page 12 of the Marshalled List which, with the leave of the Committee, I should like to speak to now as it is consequential.
§ Amendment No. 25: Insert the following new Schedule—