Clause 19 - Interpretation
Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Bill
4:00 pm
Mr Ian Bruce (South Dorset, Conservative)
I want briefly to address some narrow, technical points. It is always the case in this place—because we represent what the Prime Minister called a very conservative body—we assume that because we have always done things in a particular way and used a particular form of words in an Act of Parliament, if it came to a court case and someone claimed that something had been done incorrectly, the courts would assume that any lack of clarity in our legislation could be accepted in the courts. When I complained about the lack of clarity surrounding the question of the appropriate Minister, I was grateful to be told that there was a definition. However, like so many of the definitions in the Bill, it tells one nothing. It states that appropriate Minister means
``in relation to England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the Secretary of State''.
There are 20 or 30 Secretaries of State, and in this Bill—[Interruption.] The hon. Member for Rother Valley (Mr. Barron) is describing the Minister to whom I was about to refer in derogatory terms.