Government must listen to views of somerset residents: laws

David Laws, MP for Yeovil Constituency, today commented on the news that 82% of Somerset residents rejected a single unitary authority for Somerset in the recent referendum, on a turn-out of almost 50%:

“The Government must pay attention to this result. The people of Somerset have made clear that they are not persuaded of the case for a single unitary council for Somerset. And the turn-out in this election is much higher than expected – in fact, it is higher than in the recent local government elections!

“When over 8 out of 10 people say that they are opposed to a reorganization of this kind, Ministers must sit up and take note. People are entitled to a say about how they are governed – and they deserve to be listened to.

“The Government made a big mistake when they failed to even allow the public to be consulted on a two unitary council solution for Somerset, which many people in our area felt would be a good idea.

“The Government should now go back to the drawing board, and should make no changes to our local government without local consent.”

ENDS

Category: Constituency News