Local Elections: Cancellation Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Helena Dollimore
Main Page: Helena Dollimore (Labour (Co-op) - Hastings and Rye)Department Debates - View all Helena Dollimore's debates with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
(1 day, 13 hours ago)
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Alison McGovern
The hon. Gentleman mentions a legal process that I am not at liberty to comment on in detail. We want elections to go ahead, unless there is a strong justification. That is what we have said and that is what we will stick to.
Helena Dollimore (Hastings and Rye) (Lab/Co-op)
Many of my constituents do not understand why we have an inefficient, duplicative, confusing system of two-tier councils at the moment. They are looking forward to this process going ahead and to having one council. As we await the process, it is really important that the councils we have remain responsive to our constituents’ needs. To give one example, I am organising a meeting next month about local bus services. I have invited East Sussex county council, run by the Conservatives, as the responsible transport authority, but it is currently refusing to send anyone to the meeting. Does the Minister agree that is unacceptable, particularly because it has been given a record amount of money by this Labour Government—over £10 million—to improve our bus services and my constituents want to tell it their experiences of buses?
Alison McGovern
Given the number of times buses have been raised with me when I have been door-knocking during elections, I am surprised that they do not lead the news more often. I congratulate my hon. Friend on her efforts to get decent bus services for her constituents, and would say to any local authority that if it wants to engage with residents on the things they care about, buses should be top of the list.