Clause 20 - Short title, commencement and extent
International Development Bill [Lords]
12:30 pm
Mrs Caroline Spelman (Meriden, Conservative)
I add my thanks to you, Mr. Griffiths, for your chairmanship, and I hope that you will extend my thanks to your co-Chairman, Mr. Amess, who was subjected to one of our protracted, albeit important, debates on clause 1, when we focused on the aims and objectives of the Bill.
The hon. Member for Richmond Park, who is not present, gave me cause for concern at the outset; to my astonishment, she described us as chums. However, the Committee has been conducted in a good spirit of co-operation, which proves that she was right and that it is possible to scrutinise legislation without unnecessary acrimony or point scoring. There was little of that, and our exchanges, including many contributions by Labour Back Benchers—I hope that they found them satisfying—allowed good discussion of all the issues.