Clause 3 - Expiry
Sex Discrimination (Election Candidates) Bill
10:30 am
Mr Paul Tyler (North Cornwall, Liberal Democrat)
Why has the Minister selected 2015 for the so-called sunset clause? My hon. Friends and I agree that a sunset clause is helpful: in the House, it is useful to give a specific time scale to much legislation because we do not return to it regularly enough to assess its impact. I have no problem with the principle. The Bill obviously has a natural life—or, at least, we hope that it has—and we hope that sufficient progress will be made to enable it to wither on the vine. However, I wonder whether 2015 is significant—perhaps it is when the Under-Secretary gets his bus pass, or he knows that the world will end that year. Whatever the reason, I would like to understand better the time scale involved.