Scotland Bill — Committee (1st Day) (Continued)
5:45 pm
Lord Selkirk of Douglas (Conservative)
I thank my noble and learned friend very much indeed for accepting the principle of the amendment. I hope I may say, by way of a one-sentence reply to the noble Lord, Lord Steel, that he reminds me of the famous parliamentary statement that lawyers should be elected only with so much circumspection, and therefore it will not happen very often.
Amendment 8 withdrawn.
Amendments 9 and 10
Moved by Lord Wallace of Tankerness
9: Clause 7, page 6, line 13, leave out "Presiding Officer shall publish notice of the reference" and insert "person who made the reference shall publish notice of it"
10: Clause 7, page 6, line 16, leave out "the Presiding Officer" and insert "that person"
Amendments 9 and 10 agreed.
Amendment 11 not moved.
Amendments 12 to 15
Moved by Lord Wallace of Tankerness
12: Clause 7, page 6, line 36, at end insert-
"(d) provide that an order under subsection (6) may be laid before the Scottish Parliament less than 40 days before it comes into force, despite anything in section 28 of the Interpretation and Legislative Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 (asp 10), as modified by subsection (11).
(9) The Scottish Ministers may by order make such provision as they consider necessary or expedient (including provision amending the Act) in consequence of any delay by virtue of subsection (2) in the coming into force of any provision of the Act.
(10) If the Court decides that any provision of the Act is outside the legislative competence of the Parliament, the Scottish Ministers may by order make such provision as they consider necessary in consequence of that decision in order to give full effect to any provisions of the Act which are within that competence.
(11) In its application to an order under subsection (6), section 28 of the Interpretation and Legislative Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 (the negative procedure) has effect with the following modifications-
(a) in subsections (2) and (8), for "28 days" substitute "40 days";
(b) in subsection (4), omit "so far as the instrument is not in force on the date of the resolution" and paragraph (b);
(c) omit subsection (7)(a).""
13: Clause 7, page 6, line 42, at end insert-
"( ) In section 113 (subordinate legislation: scope of powers), after subsection (1A) (inserted by section 3) insert-
"(1B) Subsections (2) to (6) and (11) apply also to the power of the Scottish Ministers to make an order under section 33A(6), (9) or (10).""
14: Clause 7, page 7, line 2, after ""Section 33A(6)" insert ", (9) or (10)"
15: Clause 7, page 7, line 2, at end insert-
"( ) In paragraph 3 of that Schedule (special cases)-
(a) in sub-paragraph (1)(a), after "type F, G, H, I" insert ", J";
(b) after sub-paragraph (2)(d) insert-
"(da) instead of the type J procedure, the type L procedure shall apply,"."
Amendments 12 to 15 agreed.
Clause 7 agreed.
Clause 8 agreed.
Clause 9 : Constituencies, regions and regional members
Amendment 16 not moved.
Clause 9 agreed.
Amendment 17
Moved by Lord Foulkes of Cumnock
17: After Clause 9, insert the following new Clause-
"Review of electoral system for the Scottish Parliament
(1) The Secretary of State must make arrangements-
(a) for a committee to carry out a review of the electoral system used for elections to the Scottish Parliament and to make recommendations about that, and
(b) for the publication of the committee's findings and recommendations.
(2) Arrangements for the establishment of the committee under subsection (1) are to be made no later than