§ The Lord Chancellor (Lord Hailsham of Saint Marylebone)My Lords, with your Lordships' permission, I will speak to all three Bills in my name on the Order Paper at once, but move them separately. They are all consolidation measures. None of them makes any changes in the law. They deal respectively with the law relating to aviation security, the law relating to industrial development, and in particular regional development grants and financial and other assistance for industry, and the law relating to insurance companies. Unless any noble Lord objects, all three will, in the usual way, be referred to the Joint Committee.
§ I now beg to move that the Aviation Security Bill be read a second time.
§ Moved, that the Bill be now read a second time.—(The Lord Chancellor.)
§ Lord Elwyn-JonesMy Lords, it is a matter for observation and gratitude that no fewer than three consolidation measures appear upon the Order Paper today, which is a mark of the considerable progress—to the great delight, I am sure, of the noble Lord, Lord Renton, and others—which is being made in this very important field of tidying up and making sensible the state of our legislation.
§ Lord RentonMy Lords, may I endorse the noble and learned Lord's statement that it makes me very happy. May I ask my noble and learned friend the Lord Chancellor whether this excellent momentum can be sustained indefinitely or possibly increased?
§ The Lord ChancellorMy Lords, I am very grateful to both the noble and learned Lord and to my noble 525 friend. I wish we could go faster. Consolidating statutes is rather like running up a moving stairway which is going down; we pass so much legislation these days that we cannot keep pace.
§ On Question, Bill read a second time, and referred to the Joint Committee on Consolidation Bills.