§ The Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Commons (Mr. John Biffen)I beg to move amendment No. 1, in page 2, leave out lines 43 to 46.
It might be helpful to the House if I explain the background to the amendment.
It is the privilege of the House of Commons to control charges on public funds. To avoid infringing this privilege, the Lords formally negative any provisions of a Bill starting in their House which involve such a charge. The so-called privilege amendment is printed in the Bill with a black line in the margin, and the leaving out of the relevant subsection must be moved as an amendment during Committee stage in the Commons. In accordance with recent practice, notice has been given of this amendment which, having been moved formally, should be agreed.
The amendment is designed purely to delete the privilege amendment made in another place.
§ Mr. Alan Williams (Swansea, West)I thank the Leader of the House for that explanation, which it is advantageous to have on record. As this is clearly the latest in a long list of blatant vote-grabbing measures that the Government are bringing forward, the Opposition do not see it as in their interests to prolong the proceedings. I hope that those will be my final words on the Bill.
§ Amendment agreed to.
§ Clause 5, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.
§ Schedules 1 and 2 agreed to.
§ Bill reported, with an amendment.
§ Bill read the Third time, and passed, with an amendment.