§ 82. Lieut.-Colonel Cordeauxasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs whether he will decline to grant loan sanction for projects recently approved at meetings of local authorities from which the Press have been excluded for reasons other than that the business was special and it was not in the public interest that the Press should be present, in view of the fact that meetings held in such circumstances are invalid.
§ Mr. H. BrookeI am advised that the exclusion of the Press in these circumstances would not by itself invalidate the proceedings which took place. Strongly as I deprecate any council acting in the way referred to by my hon. and gallant Friend, it would not be proper for me, when faced with a legally valid application from a local authority, to consider it otherwise than on its merits.