Viscount Stansgate (Lab)

My Lords, rather like the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, I am afraid I am also going to disappoint the noble Lord, Lord Holmes, because I do not think these amendments are necessary. But I agree with many of the things he said, especially about the evidence that we received. I had never been a Member of a Special Public Bill Committee before— I do not know how many of your Lordships in the Chamber tonight have been—but it is really a very interesting procedure. When I consider the length of the Bill compared with the height of the amount of evidence that we received both in writing and orally, I do not think I have ever seen such a strong proportion of that kind. I want to say one thing about Amendment 4 and data centres. I agree that this is not really within the remit of the Bill. If it was not for the noble Lord tabling all these amendments, we would not have had a Report debate of any kind, so I thank him for that too. The House is beginning to understand, I think, that data centres use phenomenal quantities of electricity —it is staggering. I do not know how the future is going to unfold but when the noble Lord refers to them as the “foundries” of the 21st-century economy, I think he makes a very good point. I am a member of the UK Engagement with Space Committee of your Lordships’ House and one of the many interesting things that is beginning to emerge there is that in the future data centres may be placed in space—where, incidentally, it is easier to keep them cool—and then you would send the data to and from. I agree that this goes much more widely than the debate on the Bill. I conclude by saying that when the noble Lord says the world is watching, I agree with that too, because the Bill will allow common law to develop in the way that common law has done for decades. It will also entrench the central position of London as a jurisdiction for the arbitration of disputes and arguments about digital assets, and I think and hope that London will continue to do that. Therefore, there is that element to the Bill, which I strongly support, although I am in favour of the noble Lord withdrawing his amendment.