Member

I turn to Amendments 216A, 216B and 216C, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Fuller. I completely agree with him, particularly on one aspect of his speech: that no one goes into local government for the money. His amendments seek to change the usual parliamentary procedures for the statutory instruments made to postpone elections for councillors, local authority mayors, and police and crime commissioners. As I outlined in my response to the amendments from the noble Lord, Lord Pack, any orders to postpone council elections are already subject to parliamentary scrutiny. For the postponement of council elections in May 2025, both Houses debated the order. For any future orders, existing parliamentary procedures will rightly allow for Peers and MPs to both debate and vote on any legislation to implement a decision to postpone elections.