Part of Debt Relief (Developing Countries) Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 9:30 am on 9 March 2010.
David Gauke
Shadow Minister (Treasury)
9:30,
9 March 2010
I take that point and I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for acknowledging that the Amendment is well intentioned, as was his Intervention. I do not want to get into one of the broader debates just yet. However, one of the issues that the Treasury’s consultation paper has tried to wrestle with—and which the Government and the hon. Member for Northampton, North acknowledged in her thoughtful speeches on Second Reading—is that we do not want to pursue a policy that means that the costs and interest rates that developing countries will have to pay will go up because of a risk premium. There is a carefully calibrated argument to address that issue. The Government’s consultation paper and the Bill have addressed it by providing some certainty, essentially looking backwards and saying, “These particular debts are covered.” I do not want to labour this point—I want to let the hon. Lady proceed—my purpose is simply to provide some certainty on what the thinking is and what the wording means.
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.
The Second Reading is the most important stage for a Bill. It is when the main purpose of a Bill is discussed and voted on. If the Bill passes it moves on to the Committee Stage. Further information can be obtained from factsheet L1 on the UK Parliament website.
As a bill passes through Parliament, MPs and peers may suggest amendments - or changes - which they believe will improve the quality of the legislation.
Many hundreds of amendments are proposed by members to major bills as they pass through committee stage, report stage and third reading in both Houses of Parliament.
In the end only a handful of amendments will be incorporated into any bill.
The Speaker - or the chairman in the case of standing committees - has the power to select which amendments should be debated.
An intervention is when the MP making a speech is interrupted by another MP and asked to 'give way' to allow the other MP to intervene on the speech to ask a question or comment on what has just been said.
