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1 Page I, line 23, leave out ("nominated for that party")
§ The noble Lord said: Before I launch into this first amendment in the Committee stage I wish to thank the Government or the usual channels—I am not sure who arranges these things—for agreeing to a revision of the list of groupings of amendments. That was helpful and I believe that it will be helpful also to other Members of the Committee who have submitted amendments.
§ This first amendment arose from a difficulty that I had—it may be just a personal difficulty of mine which is not shared by anyone else—in understanding Clause 2(4). The subsection contains a three-line sentence with no commas. Perhaps it was because I read it late at night when my mental faculties were not at their highest that it took me a few rereadings of that sentence to understand its meaning. Although most Bills that we consider in this Chamber are probably of interest only to lawyers, we need to recognise the need for Bills to be understandable to the layman also. I should prefer it if the amended version of the subsection were to state, "The nominating representative of a party may, from time to time, substitute, for any member of the team, another delegate returned for that party in accordance with Schedule 1".
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I have introduced the commas in my speech because I had some difficulty with the Clerks in that what I initially sought to do was to insert commas to break up the sentence and give it a greater ease of understanding.
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However, they seemed disinclined to accede to my wishes in that respect. In my deliberations on this subsection, I discovered that there was a superfluity of words in that the original subsection—if I may so describe it—stated,
for any member of the team nominated for that party".
§ One of the difficulties is that that provision implies that a nominating representative might have some influence over another team. It is surely the Government's intention that the nominating representative would have an influence only over his or her own team and not some other team. Therefore, the reference to the "nominated for that party" is superfluous.
§ By agreeing that the section is tautological, if I may so describe it, I hope that the Government will acknowledge that the subsection is imperfectly drafted. I accept that it is not a life and death issue. This is the first amendment in Committee and it might be useful to have the Government's response. I beg to move.
§ Lord MonsonAlthough I would not have put as many commas in the provision as did the noble Lord, Lord Monkswell, I agree with the general thrust of his amendment. It seems to me that the words to which he objects and are superfluous and that the subsection would be more easily understood without them.
§ Baroness Denton of WakefieldThe noble Lord's amendment bears on Clause 2(4) of the Bill. That subsection provides that, after the initial entry to negotiations, a nominating representative may change the members of his party's team in the negotiations. In the words of the Bill, a nominating representative of a party may,
substitute for any member of the team nominated for that party another delegate returned for that party".The amendment would omit the words, "nominated for that party".Having considered the amendment, we take the view that it would make the subsection less clear and possibly ambiguous. It would no longer be clear which team the nominating representative would be entitled to change, and it would therefore accelerate the confusion that concerns the noble Lord, Lord Monkswell. Logically, there is only one, which is that of his own party, but at best the subsection, as the noble Lord would amend it, would become less easy to understand; and at worst there may be scope for needless dispute. I believe that there will be a large amount of dispute during the negotiations and we would not like to encourage more. We believe that the purpose of the Bill is best accomplished by the drafting as it stands. Having heard our reasons, I hope that the noble Lord will feel able to withdraw the amendment.
§ Lord MonkswellI thank the Minister for that response. I recognise that it is a matter of interpretation. As I said, it is not a life and death matter. I eventually understood the sense of the subsection. On the basis of the Minister's remarks, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
§ Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
1308§ Clause 2 agreed to.
§ Clause 3 agreed to.
§ Clause 4 [Referendums]:
§ Lord Monkswell moved Amendment No. 2: