HL Deb 18 March 1952 vol 175 cc783-4

3.14 p.m.

An Amendment reported (according to Order).

Clause 1 [Power of Her Majesty to give effect to certain Agreements relating to insurance contracts]:

VISCOUNT SWINTON moved to leave out subsection (3) and insert: (3) No recommendation shall be made to Her Majesty in Council to make an Order under this section unless a draft thereof has been laid before Parliament and has been approved by Resolution of each House of Parliament.

The noble Viscount said: My Lords, on the Committee stage of the Bill the noble and learned Earl the Leader of the Opposition suggested that, while he entirely accepted the proposal, which indeed we had agreed, that further Treaties under this Bill should be subject to Affirmative, and not Negative, Resolution, the form in which we carried the Amendment last time was unnecessarily cumbrous in that it required the presentation of Addresses from both Houses of Parliament. The noble and learned Earl suggested that we might consider whether there was not an alternative and simpler form. I have consulted the Parliamentary draftsman and found that we can ensure the Affirmative Resolution procedure and at the same time avoid the formality of an Address. I am very much obliged to the noble and learned Earl for the suggestion. Therefore I beg to move to leave out subsection 3, which the House inserted last time, and in its place to insert these words: (3) No recommendation shall be made to Her Majesty in Council to make an Order under this section unless a draft thereof has been laid before Parliament and has been approved by Resolution of each House of Parliament. That preserves the requirement for an Affirmative Resolution and makes the form of the subsequent procedure the simplest possible.

Amendment moved— Page 2, line 5, leave out subsection (3) and insert the said new subsection.—(Viscount Swinton.)

EARL JOWITT

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Viscount for what he has done. This Amendment gives me all the substance I asked for, and I think the form is better. I take this opportunity of saying that I hope this form will now become common form. I am sure we all feel that we must relieve the Sovereign of all the extra duties we can, because the duties that fall upon her are already sufficiently onerous. This proposed arrangement is a small matter, but still, in bulk, it will effect a considerable saving of time. I think it is a useful innovation, in this sense: that at the present moment we have both forms, and unless there is good reason to the contrary I very much hope that the form we are now adopting will become the current form. It gives us exactly what we want in the way of an Affirmative Resolution and yet saves the Sovereign and those who advise her a certain amount of work which otherwise would be cast upon them.

On Question. Amendment agreed to.