Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 6:00 pm on 3 July 2006.

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Photo of Lord Bassam of Brighton Lord Bassam of Brighton Government Whip, Government Whip 6:00, 3 July 2006

First, I invite the noble Lord, Lord Norton of Louth, to consider this. It is obviously a very beguiling thought that one could always future-proof any legislation. This is a general invitation to the noble Lord, which is not specific to this Bill. But I would like him to provide examples of how that would work and how it might be possible. If it could be done in a way that worked well, I am sure that it would give great comfort to everyone on the longer-term intentions of any Administration, not just the current one. I am sure that I can remember making arguments when my party was in opposition not about what existed there and then, but about something that we were suspicious of in the future. The trouble is that, by and large, it is not possible to future-proof legislation in order to prevent things that future Governments might want to make happen when there is a change of Administration. There is a difficulty and the noble Lord knows that, although it is part of the current debate, in which I am interested for those reasons.