Member

If the noble Lord, Lord Birt, is going to press his amendments to a Division today, he will certainly have my support—but, like the noble Lord, Lord Hayward, who made what I thought was a very wise intervention, I hope that we will not get to that stage. I hope that the Minister, having thought about this matter and having listened to this debate—she has always engaged with what has been said on this Bill during the course of these debates—will feel able to tell us today that this is a topic on which she and her officials would like to think again. I hope she will tell us that, as it is such a difficult and important topic, she wants to see whether the Government, on reflecting further on the amendments from the noble Lord, Lord Birt, might wish to improve the Bill by incorporating at least some of those amendments and bringing back a further amendment at Third Reading.