"Residents can certainly now make their views known as regards entertainment licensing and they do this to great effect - if they complain when the PEL is applied for..."

But of course there is no way of complaining when the PEL (ir whatever we call it) is not applied for. And I'm not even sure that letters in support of an applicatioin rather than opposing it are admissible.

Arguing about this in terms of Labour/Tory politics is pointless. If this had been Tory legislation under a Tory Government, there is no doubt at all that the Labour MPs who trooped through the lobbies would have been screaming to high heaven about how it was an affront to human freedom, and an attack on cultural traditions. And Kim Howells would probably have been the loudest of all in our support.