Last Tuesday a House of Lords Calling Notice was issued for the hearing of oral evidence from Richard Caborn MP, Minister of State at the DCMS and Professor Stephen Crow, former Chairman of the Casino Advisory Panel. The House of Lords Select Committee on the Merits of Statutory Instruments will listen to evidence on the selection of the super casino location tomorrow afternoon, and the session will be open to the public. The Committee are conducting scrutiny of the statutory order that grants Manchester the right to license a super casino and 16 other local authorities to licence either large or small casinos.

Manchester has supplied evidence for tomorrow’s hearing supporting its case for hosting the super casino. Its application, since the unexpected win, has been criticised both for attacking the Blackpool submission and for ‘blinding’ CAP with its professional expertise. A vote in Parliament, expected before Easter, will decide whether the CAP selection of all 17 locations is approved. MPs will not be able to vote for the individual choices. 102 MPs have already signed an Early Day Motion condemning the selection of Manchester.

The stated purpose of the hearing is to improve the House’s understanding of the way the bids were commissioned and the selection process carried out, but will not necessarily challenge the decisions. The Committee will also seek to ascertain how the selection criteria were chosen. Professor Crow will give evidence from 4:30pm, followed by Richard Caborn at 5:15pm. A live broadcast of proceedings can be heard at www.parliamentlive.tv (E-03.12.07)

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