Lords defeat on unitaries gives glimmer of hope to Norwich and Exeter

The city councils in Exeter and Norwich may yet get a chance to put their arguments across to Parliament over why they should become unitary authorities, after the coalition government lost a vote in the House of Lords on the Bill revoking the previous administration's unitary authority orders and suspending consultation in Suffolk.

Peers voted 154 to 150 in favour of a motion brought by Lord Howarth that blocked the second reading of the Local Government Bill. It was the coalition government's first defeat in Parliament.

The motion suggested that there was a strong prima facie case that the Bill was a “hybrid Bill” – meaning it has the features of a public Bill and a private Bill – and as such should have been reviewed by a committee of peers. Its status will now be determined by Lords officials known as Examiners. The second reading debate cannot be held until this is concluded.

Angus Walker, partner at parliamentary agents Bircham Dyson Bell, said if the Bill is considered to be have hybrid status, then it would – like the Crossrail Bill or the Channel Tunnel Rail Link Bill – have to have a period for outside objections (or petitions) to be made to the committee of peers.

He said: “The argument is that the Bill treats Norwich and Exeter differently from other local authorities. Lords officials will now consider the arguments on both sides.

“If they decide the Bill is hybrid, then it will have to follow a different process from normal Bills. In particular, people and organisations outside Parliament, such as the councils affected, would be able to object to the Bill – or support it – by petitioning Parliament.

“They would then get a chance to have their petitions heard by a committee of peers, somewhat like a public inquiry, and in due course a committee of MPs when the Bill reached the Commons.”

This could result in changes being made to the Bill, Walker said. However, he added that while the Bill could be delayed or changed through the process, it does not really alter the chances of the Bill becoming law “as the principle of a hybrid Bill cannot be questioned in any of the petitions against it”.

Lord Strathclyde, leader of the House of Lords, described the vote as making use of an arcane procedure “which should have no bearing on the ultimate passage of this Bill”.

He insisted that the government anticipated no substantive delay and remained committed to “scrapping this unnecessary and expensive unitary restructuring”.

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