A COMMONS bill allowing councils to compete in the private sector is to be introduced by an East Lancashire Labour MP.

Pendle's Gordon Prentice wants local authorities to be allowed to trade in the open market. He believes that while private firms have been handed more and more council work, the local authorities have been bound hand and foot by government restrictions on their ability to offer services to other organisations and to the public.

He will present his Local Authorities (trading and competition powers) Bill to the Commons on May 1.

Mr Prentice said: "The law is an absolute mess. Why can't efficient and go-ahead councils offer their services to people who want to buy them, but are not at present allowed by law to do so.

"Councils can provide maintenance and other services to council house tenants but, curiously, not to those very same people if they choose to buy their homes. Why not?

"Councils can sell spare computer capacity to others but this seems to be a very special case.

"Why shouldn't this principle be extended into other areas so long as there are proper safeguards built in to prevent a local authority abusing its position.

"I do not want the public sector to be held back by law where it is able to provide excellent, competitively priced, high quality services to people who freely choose to buy them.

"After all, local authorities provide car parks, often in direct competition to NCP and other private sector operators. What is so special about car parks, for goodness sake?"

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