§ 3.10 p.m.
§ The Lord Chancellor (Lord Mackay of Clashfern)My Lords, I beg to move that this Bill he now read a second time. The Bill consolidates the enactments relating to vehicle excise duty and the registration of vehicles. The last major consolidation of the vehicle excise and registration Acts was in the Vehicles (Excise) Act 1971 but further provision about the subject has been made almost annually by successive finance Acts and by a considerable number of other Acts. That of itself indicates a strong case for fresh consolidation. The case is further strengthened by the peculiar recent history of the provisions about vehicle excise duty. This has had the result that the current law can be ascertained only by referring both to the provisions in the body of the 1971 Act and to modifications contained in a schedule, which had originally been expected to operate transitionally for a few years only
I should like to take this opportunity of thanking the draftsmen for continuing their important consolidation work. If your Lordships are content to give the Bill a Second Reading, it will be referred in the usual way to the Joint Committee on Consolidation Bills,
§ Moved, That the Bill be now read a second time.—(The Lord Chancellor.)
§ On Question, Bill read a second time, and referred to the Joint Committee on Consolidation Bills.