§ Again considered in Committee.
§ Mr. John Cope (Gloucestershire, South)We come now to amendment No. 25, in my name, in page 2, line 28, leave out from '1979' to end of line 32.
I do not in any way wish to summarise the debate that we have just had; I simply say that I came to the conclusion that subsection (7) is helpful to companies in certain circumstances if the Royal Assent is given to this Bill within 28 days of 17 January, but not otherwise.
I may have misunderstood the subsection. My reason for the amendment is my difficulty in understanding the subsection. I have been doing my best to understand the whole Bill. I do not have the advan- 1610 tage of some of my right hon. and hon. Friends of having been intimately involved with the earlier legislation on the subject. Subsection (7), particularly the second half of it, is quite incomprehensible, however.
Unfortunately, in the debate on the last amendment my right hon. Friend the Member for Crosby (Mr. Page) made what amounted to a far better speech on this amendment than I could have made. He proved to my satisfaction that the subsection is badly drafted and that it should be taken away by the Government and redrafted. I was therefore hoping to vote for it to be taken away for that purpose. However, it seems that the Government are not prepared to do that. I hope, therefore, that they will give an explanation of the second half of the subsection. However, I am aware from the Minister's earlier explanation that if they do I shall be even more confused than I was before.
The Second Deputy Chairman (Mr. Bryant Godman Irvine)I take it that the hon. Gentleman does not wish to move the amendment.
§ Clause 1 ordered to stand part of the Bill.
§ Clause 2 ordered to stand part of the Bill.