Clause 3 - Expiry
Sex Discrimination (Election Candidates) Bill
10:30 am
Dr Alan Whitehead (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions; Southampton, Test, Labour)
There are several ways in which we could speculate about the year 2015. Given the hon. Gentleman's comments, 2015 will be the year in which he will be so radical that he will disappear off the end of the political spectrum. It will also be the year in which I receive my bus pass and will no longer be eligible for the parliamentary football team. [Interruption.] There is heckling from a sedentary position about my qualities, which I shall ignore.
When one includes a sunset clause, one must take a decision that is, to some extent, arbitrary about the time of sunset. Of course, by 2015 at least three elections will have taken place.