REGULATIONS AND ORDERS (Hansard, 17 July 1973)

§ Mr, Kenneth Baker
I beg to move Amendment No. 36, in page 42, line 31 leave out from 'instrument' to 'House' in line 32 and insert: 'and no such order shall be made unless a draft of it has been approved by resolution of each'.

§ Mr. Speaker
With this we are taking the following Amendments:
No. 35, in page 42, line 30 leave out subsection (2) and insert: '(2) No order shall be made under sections 1 and 28 above unless a draft of the order has been approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament'.

§ Mr. Baker
In Committee this was the occasion of an interesting debate initiated by the hon. Member for Barrow-in-Furness (Mr. Booth), who brought to bear his considerable experience as Chairman of the Select Committee on Statutory Instruments.
I shall not go over the various points made in that debate, but they concerned the use of the negative and the affirmative procedures for subordinate legislation. Having regard to the important effect that orders made under the two clauses referred to could have upon the admission of new entrants to the industry, and upon the technical solvency of those already engaged in it, the Government are prepared to agree that the affirmative procedure would be appropriate, and that is achieved by the amendment which is parallelled by one put down by the Opposition. I am sure that the amendment will meet wtih the approval of the House.

§ Mr. Booth
On behalf of my hon. Friend and myself may I say that the Ministers action in tabling the amendment is appreciated. But for the amendment, the Bill would have provided by regulation for the Companies Acts 1958 and 1967 to be amended by the negative procedure, which would have been intolerable. As the point has been met we are happy to acknowledge the Minister's action.