Lord Moynihan (Con)

My Lords, in moving Amendment 6 I shall speak also to my Amendment 82. The purpose of Amendment 6 is found in the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee report of 20 November last year. It makes the very reasonable point that, in a Bill of this kind, it is probably wise and helpful to state in it whom it refers to. The fact of the matter is that the Bill makes no reference to whom it refers. The committee says that “the Bill’s scope and purpose should appear clearly in the Bill. Clause 1 … states the purpose of this Bill as being to protect and promote the sustainability of English football. Yet the meaning of ‘English football’ (and therefore the remit of the IFR) is incomplete and requires filling out in regulations made by the Secretary of State. We recommend that the power of the Secretary of State in clause 2 to define ‘specified competitions’ should be removed from the Bill”. This is because it is self-evident and clear that the “Government policy is … that the top five leagues of the men’s professional game should be regulated”. It concludes: “This policy should appear in primary legislation, not be relegated to secondary legislation”. It is fairly rare that a Bill of this magnitude and importance—certainly in sport—does not say to whom it refers but instead says that, in due course, the Secretary of State will come forward and tell us to whom it refers. An argument has been put forward that if the Bill said to whom it refers it would make it hybrid. It is indeed interesting that, in describing this amendment, the Government called it a hybrid amendment—but it is not at all. As far as I was concerned when tabling it, it was to put in the Bill to whom this legislation refers, which seemed self-evidently sensible. However, I can see that there is the possibility that saying to whom it refers can turn it into a hybrid Bill—some people would hold that view. I was advised by the head of public Bill procedure that my amendment would put certain leagues in the Bill as leagues that need to be included in the independent football regulator’s remit, as set out in regulations. The regulation-making power in Clause 2(3) does not specify any leagues and has a dehybridising provision attached to it. So it is interesting that, without naming the clubs or the leagues to which this legislation refers, the Bill still has a dehybridising provision attached to it. I assume that the Government recognise that, if the Bill said to whom it referred, there was a possibility that this would make it hybrid. The way that this has been done so far is by avoiding putting a hybrid provision in the Bill, in that there may not be a genuine class of football clubs playing in certain leagues but not others. In the view of the officials, the leagues specified in my amendment do not form a genuine class. Therefore, if the House agreed to my amendment, the Bill would be at a high risk of becoming hybrid. I do not want to put that to a vote and test the will of the House because there is clear evidence, in both Houses, that there is a will to move forward with this legislation. If there is therefore a move by the Government to avoid it being tested for hybridity by putting the clubs and leagues into secondary legislation, that is the decision that underpins the Government’s wish to enact this legislation. However, I will move this amendment because it is important to try not to avoid saying to whom and to which competition the Bill refers. When we scrutinise legislation we need to know to whom it refers. It is neither sensible nor wise to bring legislation forward before either House without clarity on that point. Therefore, I believe that the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee made an important point for the House to consider. I beg to move.