Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)

Essentially—this goes back to the point that the noble Lord, Lord Hayward, made—the power in the Licensing Act for the Secretary of State was never designed to be a blanket power; it was designed to cover, as has been mentioned, “exceptional international, national, or local significance”. The Secretary of State has to consider that the celebration period in relation to the order—which would be given either by executive power or by formal order—marks an occasion of exceptional national significance. Both noble Lords have mentioned the Women’s World Cup as a whole. If they reflect on today’s order, they will see that it is not about the UEFA Women’s Championship in Switzerland as a whole; it is specifically targeted at the semi-finals on 23 and 24 July and the final on 27 July. I need to take away from today whether or not the Home Secretary, in this case, will reflect on the semi-final and final of the competition that both noble Lords have referred to, or the whole competition. This order, which is tangential to the issues that have been raised, features only the semi-final and final, and therefore that was the proposal that the Government brought forward. I very much welcome the support for the order by the noble Lord, Lord Davies of Gower, and the points he made. There is an opportunity here to celebrate both England and Wales, should they make the semi-finals and final, and to help boost businesses in the hospitality sector and provide much-needed income and refreshment to those businesses. That is why I fervently hope that England and Wales make the semi-finals and final, and fight it out in an appropriate way in whichever Swiss football stadium they are playing in on 27 July. This has been a useful debate and, if noble Lords will allow, I will reflect on those two matters and respond in writing. But, for the reasons that I have mentioned, this is for a specific event on a specific date, not for blanket Secretary of State coverage. But noble Lords have made a very strong case. If I may return to football —the round rather than the oval ball—for women, I commend this order to the Committee.