Clause 24 - Inadequacy of available amount:
Proceeds of Crime Bill
5:00 pm
Mr Bob Ainsworth (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office; Coventry North East, Labour)
I am sure that the hon. Gentleman has tabled the amendment in an attempt to get his own back for all the hard work that he is having to do, in Committee and in the House.
If the Government could have discerned any difference that would be made by changing the definite article to the indefinite article, we would be happy to accept the amendment as an improvement to the Bill. However, there is no discernable difference, and therefore there is no justification or reason to accept the amendment.
I am unsure to what extent I ought to go along with this attempt to spin out the Committee's consideration of the matter. However, we have read the alteration that the amendment proposes time and again, and we do not think it means anything, and I do not know what more I can say.