Transparent Damage Control

In a transparent attempt at damage control, Local Government Minister, Tony Simpson, has said that he intends to release the final maps of the Government's local government proposals 'this week' and until then "any comment on the Government's position on boundaries was pure speculation".

It is hard to say which would be more embarrassing for the Government - to release 'final' proposals that are consistent with the inadvertently-released maps or to release ones that show something different - the latter implying that either the Government had changed its mind solely in order to show the previous maps were 'wrong' or that maps had been prepared 'in error'.