§ The Solicitor-General for ScotlandI beg to move amendment No. 173, in page 42, line 19, leave out clause 62.
§ Mr. Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bernard Weatherill)With this we are to take amendment No. 160.
§ The Solicitor-General for ScotlandIf I, as a Northern Member, may adopt a cricketing analogy, in Committee my hon. Friend the Member for Aberdeenshire, East (Mr. McQuarrie), in asking me what the hon. Member for Glasgow, Garscadden (Mr. Dewar) would have said was a naive question, simply took out my middle stump. It has taken me some time to recognise the difficulty that I was in, but, on close examination of the clause, it appears that the whole of it should be omitted. The hon. Member for Garscadden also said that it would be appropriate to do that, and I am happy to agree with him.
Amendment No. 160 is consequent on that.
§ Mr. DewarI imagine that having one's middle stump removed by the hon. Member for Aberdeenshire, East (Mr. McQuarrie) would be a painful process. It certainly does not do much for the dignity of the high office occupied by the Solicitor-General for Scotland. However, it is no doubt all useful experience.
The amendment caused some puzzlement on the Labour Benches, because until recently, presumably as a result of a misprint, it appeared as "leave out clause 63". However, as long as the Minister is confident that it is clause 62 that he wishes to leave out, I am content with that.
§ Amendment agreed to.