§ Mr. BendallI beg to move Amendment No. 28, in page 8, line 38, leave out 'in point of law'.
§ Mr. Deputy SpeakerWith this we may also take Amendment No. 29, in page 8, line 38, after 'law', insert 'or fact'.
§ Mr. BendallI am disturbed that under the provisions of this clause it will be possible to appeal to the High Court only on a point of law. It may be that the Director General has made a decision which does not involve a point of law—it may be a matter of opinion. Under the clause the person against whom the Director General finds will have little chance of appeal, certainly not to the High Court.
§ Mr. RidleyI agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Ilford, North (Mr. Bendall). Often when dealing with one's constituents' affairs one advises them, when they have reached the end of the road on a substantive matter, that there is an appeal open to them on a point of law. Their faces fall a mile and they imagine that this will involve a major bill from lawyers. Ordinary people do not understand the difference between a point of law and a point of substance.
I repeat that my hon. Friend is right to raise this point, because the attempt to provide that an appeal can be mounted only on a point of law provides an escape route for those who seek to deny the proper processes of law. An appeal should lie against all these provisions. To restrict an appeal to a point of law is very restrictive. Nor is it entirely clear what a point of law would mean.
§ Mr. FairbairnMy hon. Friend will remember earlier debates on Clause 3—
§ It being Four o'clock, the debate stood adjourned.
§ Bill (as amended in the Standing Committee), to be further considered upon Friday next.