I wish to emphasise that I agree with your analysis that authorities are facing an extremely hard time, and one of the most difficult jobs in politics currently is that of leading local authorities—I have no doubt about that at all or about the challenges that they face. But may I say this, too: the policies that led to what occurred in Northampton are not being implemented in Wales. In Wales, we have a different policy, direction and philosophy—a philosophy that appreciates local authorities and decisions taken locally, and which appreciates the concept of taking decisions at a local level and the delivery of public services.

But, to answer your question with regard to the statute book, yes, we do have the powers necessary should a council collapse. We do have such powers, but I’m not certain that we have each of the powers required if that did not happen. It’s something that I have discussed with the—. We have the working group on the reform of local government, which has met in the last week, and one of the things we discussed is what would happen should a council face a challenge that it cannot resolve and is therefore in dire need of support. Whether we have each of the necessary powers, I’m not certain. That is something that we will address during the discussions on the next Bill, which will be introduced in February.