Report

Part of Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill [HL] Report – in the House of Lords at 3:47 pm on 16 July 2012.

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Photo of Lord Browne of Ladyton Lord Browne of Ladyton Shadow Spokesperson (Scotland) 3:47, 16 July 2012

My Lords, the effect of this group of amendments is to anticipate the passing into law of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill, which my noble friend Lord Borrie referred to in the previous debate and the provisions of which will combine the competition authority with the Office of Fair Trading. Those two bodies will be merged to create the Competition and Markets Authority. In Committee I spoke to a similar group of amendments but I did not press them too hard because I anticipated that I would be met with an argument that those amendments were premature, the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill being at the early stages of its passage through Parliament. I was not disappointed because the noble Baroness explained in reply that that was exactly her position. I refer noble Lords to col. 99 of the Official Report of the first day in Committee.

The Government's opposition to this group of amendments was one not of principle but of timing. The noble Baroness pointed out that as the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill had not yet received a Third Reading in the other place-indeed, I think that it only goes into Committee tomorrow in the other place-it would be presumptuous of the Government to accept an amendment at this stage, and that she or another Minister would table similar if not identical amendments at a later stage once the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill had matured and crystallised sufficiently for such amendment not to be presumptuous.

I accepted the argument at the time and withdrew the amendment. However, I have reflected on it and now bring back this group of amendments because it has been pointed out to me that, in the Crime and Courts Bill-your Lordships will need to follow a number of dates in order to get this point-which is currently before this House and had a First Reading on 10 May, there is a reference in Schedule 3(10) to,

"the chief constable of the Police Service of Scotland".

The office of the chief constable of the Police Service of Scotland was created by the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012, which, on the day on which the Crime and Courts Bill had its First Reading, was at Stage 1 of its passage in the Scottish Parliament, which has a three-stage process. If ever there was an example of presumption and premature anticipation, that is it. That Act, fortuitously, passed into law on 28 June 2012, but the same Government who resisted my amendments were doing exactly the same thing in the same House of this Parliament on another piece of legislation.

I bring this before your Lordships' House not because it is the most important point in the Bill-I have got serious points on the Bill, which I will come to-but if there are rules about this, what are those rules? Why do those rules apply to some people, in terms of legislation, and not to the Executive? I am a great believer in consistency. If the Government can anticipate that another Parliament will pass a piece of legislation that makes sense of drafting that they present to your Lordships' House, it would surely be consistent with that approach to accept a piece of drafting that anticipates that your Lordships' House will do something that the Government themselves intend it to do. I beg to move.