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Lords Amendment: No. 1, in page 1, line 7, leave out from beginning to "which" in line 8 and insert:
There shall be a fund known as the National Heritage Memorial Fund, to be a memorial to those who have died for the United Kingdom, established in succession to the National Land Fund,
§ The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Leader of the House of Commons (Mr. Norman St. John-Stevas)I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment.
§ Mr. Deputy Speaker (Mr. Richard Crawshaw)With this we may take Lords amendment No. 3.
§ Mr. St. John-StevasI do not think that these amendments, or any of the others, are especially controversial. The words are the fruit of much drafting in another place by Lady Birk, Lord Donaldson, Lord Reigate and others. They explain in what sense the fund serves as a memorial and bring in a reference to the National Land Fund.
With regard to amendment No. 3, some may ask why we need this provision as well as the definition in subsection (2) of the interpretation clause—clause 18. It is good practice to have a definition where possible, when such terms as "the Ministers" first appear in the Bill, as well as in the interpretation clause.
§ Mr. Tam Dalyell (West Lothian)In the absence of my hon. Friend the Member for Warley, East (Mr. Faulds), I wish to say that many of those who stood at the Bar of the other place and listened to the debate have considerable regard for the serious scrutiny that the other place gave the Bill. There is no doubt about that at all. Many of the Lords worked very hard on the matter. We are impressed by their work.
1370 The truth of the matter is that we do not wish to engage in any sort of pingpong with the Lords. They have reached a fairly sensible and satisfactory compromise with my right hon. and hon. Friends who worked on the Bill.
We accept that it is the best compromise of all that the Prime Minister should be responsible. We accept the idea that the Crown responsibility has been taken out.
§ Question put and agreed to.
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Lords amendment: No. 2, in page 2, leave out from "appointed" to end of line 15 and insert
by the Crown on the advice of the Prime Minister.
§ Read a Second time.
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Amendment to the Lords amendment tirade: leave out
'the Crown on the advice of '.—[Mr. St. JohnStevas.]
§ Mr. St. John-StevasI beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment, as amended.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Consequential amendments made to the Bill:
§ In schedule 1, page 12, line 23, leave out 'either of the Ministers' and insert 'the Prime Minister'.
§ In page 12, line 25, leave out 'Ministers' and insert 'Prime Minister'.
§ In page 12, line 26, leave out 'they are' and insert 'he is'.
§ In page 12, line 37, leave out 'Ministers' and insert Prime Minister's'.
§ In page 13, line 5, leave out 'either of the Ministers' and insert 'the Prime Minister'.—[Mr. St. John-Stevas.]
§ Lords amendment No. 3 agreed to.