§ 91 Schedule 12, page 87, line 9, leave out from beginning to ("may") in line 10 and insert ("No sum shall be charged on the Consolidated Fund whether by Order in 744 Council under this Schedule or otherwise for the purposes of the referendum, save that an Order in Council")
§ 92 Schedule 12, page 87, line 11, after ("officers") insert ("and any other expenses incurred exclusively and necessarily for the purposes of organising and administering the conduct of the referendum").
§ The Commons disagreed to the above Amendments for the following Reason:
§ 93 Because they are misconceived.
§ The LORD CHANCELLORMy Lords, I beg to move that this House doth not insist on their Amendments Nos. 91 and 92 to which the Commons have disagreed for the Reason numbered 93. This is an old friend, or enemy, whatever view one takes of it. The Government have given repeated assurances that they do not intend to use public funds to mount a publicity campaign in the referendum and referendums. These assurances were accepted by the other place in relation to both the Scotland Bill and the Wales Bill, and they disagreed with the Amendments proposed to both Bills by substantial majorities.
Although the present Amendments were not debated in the Commons, there was a lenghthy debate on the corresponding Amendments in relation to Scotland. When the Amendment to the Scotland Bill came back to this House, nobleLords on the Opposition side indicated that they had achieved their objective by obtaining the Government's assurance that they would not use public funds for publicity in the referendum campaign. That assurance was given readily on several occasions, and accordingly I trust that the Opposition will take the same reasonable and sensible attitude with regard to these Amendments. I beg to move.
§ Moved, That this House doth not insist on the said Amendments to which the Commons have disagreed.—(The Lord Chancellor.)
§ Lord ELTONMy Lords, I am always very much on my guard when the noble and learned Lord says that something I am about to do is reasonable and sensible. None the less, I shall not allow this inauspicious preliminary to deter me from the intended course. We are now at the end—rather earlier than I had expected (are we not?—yes, we are)—of a lengthy course. I must say that we have got round it, with some exertion, rather rapidly.
745 I think it is worth mentioning that before we began the day's proceedings there were 98 Government Amendments put into the Bill in this place. I hope that those who criticise this place for the number of Amendments it sends to the other place will realise that had that function not been performed—with or without our obstruction or assistance—the Bill would have been not merely imperfect, but unworkable. It seems to me that, if we are going to discuss the role of a second Chamber, here is a very valuable role that has been performed. What is more, a number of those Amendments have resulted from interventions made by my noble friends, myself and others not of the Government persuasion, and I think that we perform a useful function thereby.
We have not quite finished the final rally of the match because we have to get an answer to the message that we are now sending to another place. Therefore, I shall not anticipate everything that ought to be said at the conclusion, but at this stage I should like to thank the staff of this House who coped with the difficult scramble that we had on Friday morning and evening, without whose assistance it would have been impossible for the Opposition at least to have performed their role this afternoon. I think that that is all I need say at this stage.
§ The LORD CHANCELLORMy Lords, I most warmly join with the noble Lord, Lord Elton, in thanking the staff for the cheerful and competent way in which they have served us and looked after us in very difficult times. We are most grateful to them. May I also express my own gratitude to noble Lords who have taken part in today's debates for having considered matters—about which they received very little notice—so carefully and, if I may say so, so fully. I and the Government readily recognise the value of the work of your Lordships' House on the two constitutional Bills, and I should certainly like to thank my colleagues, both on the Government Front Bench and on the Back Benches, who have assisted in this. I am delighted to see my noble friend Lady Stedman, who has played such a great part in all this, back in harness again. Similarly, I should like to thank the Opposition Benches, and the Liberal Benches, which are not 746 necessarily covered by the same general description as Opposition—to my great relief and satisfaction. The proceedings started a little stormily and now nothing but sunshine reigns over us, and it is indeed time perhaps to hope to catch the sun before it sets.