Clause 10 - Guidance and directions to the Committee
Transport (Wales) Bill
4:30 pm
Bill Wiggin ((Also Shadow Secretary of State for Wales), Environment, Food & Rural Affairs; Leominster, Conservative)
This is not one of the great “die in the ditch” moments of the Bill. I simply suggest that when the Assembly does not want something to be done, it should give guidance that it should cease. It seems to be unduly heavy-handed to give it a power to revoke. I genuinely did not think that my amendment would make a huge amount of difference, but I wanted to tease out of the Minister why the particular provision was included. When one has the privilege to seek to amend a Bill, it is useful to try to find out why certain parts that seem to be superfluous have been included, and I was doing no more than that. I agree with the Minister that if one issues an instruction, one should have the option to withdraw it. However, the drafting technique strikes me as unusual, and I am not sure that the provision is completely necessary. I do not wish to take up a great deal of the Committee’s time, and there is no further mileage to be had out of the amendment, so I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.