COMMONS AMENDMENTS (Hansard, 23 May 1968)

§ LORD WINTERBOTTOM

My Lords, with the leave of the House I beg to move that this House doth agree with the Commons in their Amendments Nos. 26 to 28. Your Lordships will recognise the wording of Clause 37 as one which has been used time after time in the various Acts of Parliament conferring powers on the Board of Trade. It really is pretty pointless that such a clause should have to be drafted, printed and formally considered by both Houses every time we have a Bill before us involving Board of Trade functions.

When the Trade Descriptions Bill (or Consumer Protection Bill, as it was then 884 called) was put before your Lordships, we none the less had to include the clause. But since then we have been considering the Industrial Expansion Bill. To overcome the constant repetition of the old "Board of Trade clause", Clause 14 of that other Bill would provide that, for the purposes of that Act and any other Act passed before or after that Act, any functions given to the Board of Trade shall be performed by, to or before the President or any person acting with his authority. Since one obviously should not have two slightly different provisions in force as regards one Act, Clause 18(2) of the Industrial Expansion Bill would go on to repeal all the Board of Trade clauses in existing Acts.

I am sure your Lordships will agree that we ought not to have the Industrial Expansion Bill and the Trade Descriptions Bill on the Statute Book with Clause 14 in the former and Clause 37 in the latter. That is why it is now proposed to take out Clause 37. I might perhaps remind your Lordships that whereas the Industrial Expansion Bill would come into force as soon as it passed, the Trade Descriptions Bill would not come into force until six months later. I beg to move that this House doth agree with the Commons in the said Amendments.