Clause 4 - Supplementary powers
International Development Bill
9:55 am
Mrs Cheryl Gillan (Chesham and Amersham, Conservative)
Good morning, Mr. Benton. I welcome you to the Chair and I hope that I will give you no more trouble than I gave your co-Chairman, Mr. Butterfill, on Tuesday.
The substance of the Bill is extremely serious and the Opposition have no fundamental objections to the principles behind it. Through amendment No. 10, which was tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for South-West Devon (Mr. Streeter) and myself, we are trying to probe the thinking in the Department for International Development and raise some of the issues that we have not had an opportunity to discuss over the past four years, in the absence of any substantial debates on the Floor of the House.
Let me at once set the Minister's mind at rest—