Member

I believe that the arguments for providing for post-legislative scrutiny are compelling. The Minister may say that the Act will be subject to review three to five years after enactment. That would be welcome, but it is not an argument against putting the provision in the Bill; if anything, it underpins it. The Government are now unable to say that they have a principled objection to putting provisions for post-legislative scrutiny in a Bill. They have introduced amendments to two of their Bills—the then Football Governance Bill and, on Tuesday, the Tobacco and Vapes Bill—to provide for such review. Their amendment to the former had a high degree of granularity, whereas the amendment moved on Tuesday by the noble Baroness, Lady Merron, was more basic, providing for a review within four to seven years and requiring Welsh and Scottish Ministers—as well as the Department of Health in Northern Ireland—to be consulted.