It will need to learn the lessons of this case and to proceed with the maximum sensitivity at a time of further change in the sector. Those of us who know further education reasonably well have a high respect for it and the FE principals and their staff who lead the colleges in not always easy circumstances. We want to support them. Above all we do not want to subvert them in their basic educational task. I am unhappy if my hon.
Friend is unhappy and if important local interests are concerned about the merger.
Friend has performed a service in bringing this out in the open and explaining the local concerns to the Minister. These Committees are not known for overturning the orders that come before them. The ranks of Labour Members before me heavily outnumber us on the Opposition Benches. I hope that, in the few minutes that I shall take to address the issue, I can appeal to their reason. The issue directly affects my constituency, not any other constituency, and I have lived with it for six months or more.