Commons Bill [HL]

My Lords, I support the noble Lord, Lord Livsey, on Amendment No. 4. I made clear in Committee that I did not like the idea of Natural England or the Countryside Council for Wales being able to buy separate rights. The Minister has not convinced me that it is necessary. It distorts the balance between the countryside bodies and working farmers. It puts the countryside body in an invidiously strong position in giving them rights to buy. I know that they have a right to buy at the moment, but that is wrong and the opportunity should be taken to prevent them buying in future. The Minister said that the countryside bodies would not exercise their rights but would transfer them to a sympathetic holding if there was under-grazing. I cannot find anything in the Bill on that. Can the Minister elucidate what he meant and how it is going to work? It appears to be another provision by which the countryside body can chat up various farmers and decide who is the nicest, then transfer rights to him because there is under-grazing on a common. There are ingredients for trouble here. Will the Minister say where that provision is in the Bill and how it will work? Can he say whether any severed rights have been bought since 28 June, which, under Clause 9(13), is the effective date of this part of the Bill? If severed rights have been bought since that date, and we do not know what the wording is, it will be interesting to see what the legal position is.