Part of Road Safety Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 4:30 pm on 1 February 2005.
Mr David Jamieson
Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Transport
4:30,
1 February 2005
I suppose that if British vehicles were driven in mainland Europe or other parts of the world, people might think that our number plates were fairly indistinguishable. I agree that ours generally look extremely clear, especially if one is British and used to them.
We are trying to achieve some commonality within the European Union, which makes sense. Common recognition of plates would be better for enforcing the law within the Union. However, at present, there is no question of the 25 countries in the Union having totally standardised plates.
A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.
