Clause 14 - Lottery
Gambling Bill
3:15 pm
Mr Don Foster (Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport, Culture, Media & Sport; Bath, Liberal Democrat)
I apologise for interrupting the hon. Gentleman as he was coming to the end of his comments, but I hope that he will address an additional concern. He is rightly concerned about the increased number of powers that the Bill gives to the Secretary of State, but I hope he agrees with me that in this proposal it is sensible to future-proof in respect of any new type of product that may come along when there is uncertainty as to whether it fits into the current definition. That being the case, does he not find it odd that under subsection (8)(a) the Secretary of State will be given the power to amend definitions in respect of existing products as covered by the earlier part of the clause?