Clause 6 - Existing impounding works: works notices
Water Bill [Lords]
2:30 pm
Mr Bill Wiggin (Leominster, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 9, in
clause 6, page 6, leave out lines 21 to 23.
I am once again seeking clarification. The amendment would remove the words:
''including any power to make regulations or give directions, but references in those provisions to the Secretary of State shall be treated as references to the appropriate authority.''
It is not the clearest bit of legislative prose, but I believe that it empowers the Secretary of State to do just about anything that he or she feels is appropriate, which is an enormous widening of powers. I may be mistaken, and I again seek comfort from the Minister that the Bill will not do that. We should be proportionate—that is the word for the afternoon—in the powers that we allow to be adopted in the legislation, and I am concerned that the Bill is more generous than it should be.