Member

I opposed the previous Government—my own Government—again and again on precisely this problem. Ministers always want these powers, and they are always encouraged by civil servants to have them. As a Minister for 16 years, it did me a great deal of good not to have those powers and to have to argue the case across the House. I therefore beg this House to support the amendment from the Opposition, not because it does not have to be overturned and have something else replace it, but because it will make the Government think again about the effects of the wide-ranging powers which they have demanded.