§ —(1) The Assembly may promote private bills in Parliament and may oppose any private bill in Parliament.
§ (2) But the Assembly shall not promote or oppose any private bill in Parliament unless a motion to authorise the Assembly to promote or oppose the bill is passed by the Assembly on a vote in which at least two-thirds of the Assembly members voting support the motion.
§ (3) Subsection (1) shall not cause the Assembly to have power to apply for orders under section 1 or 3 of the Transport and Works Act 1992 by virtue of section 20 of that Act (which gives a body with power to promote and oppose private bills power to apply for and object to such orders).'.[Mr. Ron Davies.]
§ Brought up, and read the First time.
§ Mr. Ron DaviesI beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
The clause fulfils the undertaking that 1 gave to the right hon. Member for Caernarfon (Mr. Wigley) on 2 March in response to an amendment that he had moved. The new clause clarifies that the assembly will have power to promote or oppose private Bills in Parliament, but the clause does not confer on the assembly the power to make primary legislation. It will be able to promote only a private Bill in Parliament.
Subsection (2) of the new clause provides for a decision by the assembly to promote or oppose a private Bill in Parliament to require a two-thirds majority. That is appropriate in order to ensure that the decision by the assembly to promote or oppose a Bill is not taken lightly. I hope that the hon. Gentleman accepts that explanation.
As I said in Committee, we have looked further at the interaction between an explicit power for the assembly and the Transport and Works Act 1992. Subsection (3) deals with that. It provides that the new clause does not cause the assembly to have power to apply for orders under section 103 of the 1992 Act by virtue of section 20 of that Act, because that would, in effect, give the assembly primary powers—and I know that the hon. Gentleman would not want me to do that.
§ Mr. WigleyI am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman. He has answered one of the two points that we raised. The other point was whether we could dispose of private legislation within the assembly. I hope that we may be able to do that at some time in the future. However, I am grateful for small mercies.
§ Mr. JenkinOn a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Is there any way that we can discuss new clause 31 before we move on? It is a completely new clause that introduces a completely new—
§ Mr. Deputy SpeakerThe short answer to the hon. Gentleman's question is no. He must know that the programme was approved by the House and that this is not the first day upon which we have dealt with the legislation. There is no way that new clause 31 may be discussed under the terms of the motion that the House has agreed.
596 It being half-past Eight o'clock, MR. DEPUTY SPEAKER, pursuant to the Order [15 January] and the Resolution [this day], put forthwith the Question already proposed from the Chair.
Clause read a Second time, and added to the Bill.
MR. DEPUTY SPEAKER then proceeded to put forthwith the Question necessary to dispose of the business to be concluded at that hour.