My Lords, Amendment 24 introduces a power to make any provision consequential on Part 2 by order. At the outset, I wish to reassure noble Lords that the power is narrow in scope and will only allow the Government to make consequential amendments—it would not allow the Government to amend the fundamental principles and provisions included within Part 2. Any changes to the primary legislation would be subject to the affirmative resolution process.
The power is also time-limited, so that it could only be used until the date of the next general election. I emphasise that I hope this power will not be needed, but I consider it prudent to insert it into the Bill. Indeed, Amendment 7, which has already been agreed to by your Lordships today, was a starred amendment on the Marshalled List because it came up even since the Government tabled our amendments on Friday. We believe that we have introduced a number of amendments of significant benefit to campaigners and we would not wish to risk them becoming ineffective for any technical reason.
The Electoral Commission says it is important that Ministers should consult it, at least informally, before using the power. We agree that it is important to consult the Electoral Commission. I assure the House that we will consult it before making an order under this power, and the commission has agreed with that approach. Should the commission make a recommendation to use this power, we will consider it extremely carefully, but the circumstances in which we anticipate the need for this power would be to deal with any minor or technical drafting changes that are identified to ensure that the legislation is effective. They may be identified by the Electoral Commission or by officials or lawyers in government, and it would be counterproductive to suggest that only a commission recommendation could justify the use of this consequential provision. I beg to move.