§ Order for Second Reading read.
11.42 pm§ The Solicitor-General (Sir Patrick Mayhew)I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.
The Bill arises from a report of the Law Commission for England and Wales and the Law Commision for Scotland. In pursuance of their function to reduce the number of separate enactments and generally to simplify and modernise the law, the commissioners produced their 12th report in November 1985. They recommended that 135 Acts should be repealed in their entirety and that redundant provisions should be removed from 240 other Acts. The Bill would put those recommendations into effect and bring the total since 1969 to 2,300 enactments.
The Law Commission and the Joint Committee have performed work for which we should all be grateful. It is necessary from time to time to bring forward a measure to clear redundant material from the statute book. This is not a glamorous task but is necessary to the continuous process of legislation.
§ Mr. Nicholas Brown (Newcastle upon Tyne, East)I thank the Solicitor-General for his introduction and endorse his comments about the commissions' valuable work. Normally, when we discuss consolidated legislation late at night, we deal with matters which, in all candour, are as dull as ditchwater. This is not consolidated legislation, although it has been through the same procedure. It removes old and time-served statutes from the law. The notes on the Bill make entertaining reading. They contain a fund of material for speeches, but I shall not draw upon it.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Bill accordingly read a Second time.
§ Bill committed to a Committee of the whole House.—[Mr. Maude.]
§ Bill immediately considered in Committee; reported, without amendment.
§ Motion made, and Question, That the Bill be now read the Third time, put forthwith pursuant to Standing Order No. 58 (Third Reading), and agreed to.
§ Bill accordingly read the Third time, and passed without amendment.