Lord Lansley (Con)

My Lords, if I may briefly intervene in this group, we had a substantive debate on Monday, in which I participated, where we looked at the recommendations from the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee. As we noted, it welcomed some of the amendments, which we technically have not reached but which were debated then. They are Amendments 44 to 46, which have largely removed the Henry VIII powers. To that extent, therefore, I note that although my noble friend may come on to speak about Amendment 48, in practice that amendment is designed to prevent the use of Henry VIII powers. However, the Government have tabled amendments that have largely removed that risk. I very much support Amendment 56 in the names of my noble friends Lord Sharpe of Epsom and Lord Frost. In so far as the Government have not done what the Delegated Powers Committee looked for, which was for all these regulation-making powers to be subject to the affirmative procedure, it seems that we should focus our attention on where there is still the most important deficiency. It also seems that, precisely for the reasons that my noble friend Lord Frost gave, which I will not repeat, at its most extreme, the power in Clause 2(7) would literally be if the Government brought forward a regulation saying that all the product requirements in this country would be met in so far as they corresponded to the General Product Safety Regulation issued by the European Union, which, of course, came out in December 2024. They could easily come forward with such a regulation. That would be sweeping in its effect, and it would be on a negative basis.