Political Parties and Elections Bill

My Lords, I was amused by the Minister’s final remarks. It was almost as if his speaking note, written out in Civil Service-ese, had "If pressed" written there. However, I shall not be pressing the Minister on this occasion. I was very grateful to hear the Minister say that he thought that some consensus had come into being, particularly on the question of the late payment penalties, where ourselves, the Liberals and the Government seemed to be in agreement. That is the first occasion this afternoon on which we have had the use of the word "consensus". I know that the noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours, is not quite as keen on consensus as are ourselves and the Government. We will continue to pursue consensus as and when possible. I think that the noble Lord, Lord Tyler, misunderstood me. I was making it clear that I was moving only the amendment relating to early payment discounts, which is why I dropped the late payment penalty amendment that I moved in Committee. I think that we have had the assurance from the Government that all the Bill does is give power to the commission to bring in either late payment penalties or early payment discounts or both, that they will not be introduced without some form of secondary legislation and that secondary legislation will be affirmative. I certainly had a nod from the Minister on that first one. I take it that I can have his assurance that on the second point the regulations will be affirmative, but I shall keep talking while winged Mercury does his bit to get the information back to the Minister. With that assurance, I am more than happy to withdraw the amendment. Amendments 17 to 22 not moved.