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Canterbury City Council Bill, Leeds City Council Bill, Nottingham City Council Bill and Reading Borough Council Bill

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Reading, West (Martin Salter), although I was unhappy about his attack on my hon. Friend the Member for Cotswold (Mr. Clifton-Brown) who has now put the record straight. The most relevant aspect of the revival motion—the one thing that has changed since Second Reading—is of course the Durham report. It concedes that there are some local problems, but concludes that there is no national problem. Therefore, as a localist, I would like to see a national framework—probably requiring legislation—that councils can opt into if they wish to do so. Unfortunately, because that option is not available to councils, these four councils have been faced with two bitter options—either to do nothing about this dreadful problem or to expend a great deal of money, the amount of which has been considerably increased by the efforts of my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch (Mr. Chope), although he remains my hon. Friend, and a small group of other hon. Friends—