Mr Philip Hammond (Runnymede & Weybridge, Conservative)

The amendment concerns the clause that deals with the Act coming into force. The clause says:

''For the purposes of this Act it is immaterial whether any enactment confers power on the Secretary of State to establish elected assemblies for regions.''

The argument is familiar and I will not try the Committee's patience by rehearsing it. We object to the principle of a pre-legislative referendum in this matter. The amendment proposes that the wording be amended to say that the Act

''shall not come into force until there is in force an enactment conferring'',

power on the Secretary of State to establish elected assemblies for the regions. That would mean that the Minister could go around the country and convincingly wave not his White Paper but an Act of Parliament that set out precisely the powers and functions of regional assemblies, and the limitations on those powers and functions. I suggest to the Minister that if he has confidence in the edifice that he proposes to construct, he has nothing to fear and

everything to gain from being transparent about how it would work.

The connection between amendments Nos. 88 and 87 puzzles me. Amendment No. 88 would leave out subsection (2)—[Interruption.] I am told that it is entirely consequential. If the clause is amended in the way in which amendment No. 87 proposes, amendment No. 88 would simply be the appropriate consequential amendment to clause 25—I think.

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