Clause 1
Vehicle Registration Marks Bill
9:30 am
Greg Knight (East Yorkshire, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 1, in clause 1, page 1, line 20, at end insert—
‘(2A) In section 57 of that Act (regulations)—
(a) in subsection (7), after ‘Act’ insert ‘(other than regulations under section 26(1))’.
(b) after subsection (7), insert—
“(ZA) A statutory instrument containing regulations under section 26(1) may not be made unless a draft of the instrument has been laid before and approved by a resolution of both Houses of Parliament.”’.
I believe that the last time I was in a Room with you, Mr. Conway, and my hon. Friend the Member for Croydon, South was 1995 when we were in the Government Whips office. Unlike the present Government, we did not know from day to day whether we would have a majority, but I still think back to those days as the good old days, as I am sure you do.
I say to my hon. Friend that I am not here to wreck the Bill. I support the thrust of what he is trying to achieve, and the Bill is a modest measure that we should all welcome, but it has led me to ponder why we have to be as regulated as we are. In the United States, for example, any person who owns a motor car can have any number or combination of numbers and letters on his car as his registration number. I believe that there is a maximum number of numerals that he can choose, but what he chooses is entirely a matter for him, provided that no one else has it.
I remember that a few years back I met a popular entertainer, who is no longer with us, called Dean Martin. He told me that he had the registration number “DRUNKY” on his car, because it played up his stage persona. Why can we not have a similar system? You, Mr. Conway, could have “CHAIR1” as your registration plate. I mention that en passant, because we seem to be obsessed by red tape and regulation. The Bill, modest as it is, is a step in the right direction, as it seeks slightly to liberalise the rules in respect of cherished number plate transfers.