National Lottery Bill

I am grateful to the Minister, and want to help him. The most sensible thing that he has said is that the lottery should move on. I was the Minister responsible for taking the original legislation through Parliament, and I remind him that the Labour Opposition of the day fought against additionality mainly because they believed that it would reduce the takings from ticket sales. We agreed, but that is why so many of the Minister’s predecessors—notably Lord Pendry—fought so valiantly against the principle of additionality. Experience may have caused minds to be changed, but we must not forget what motivated Labour Members at the time. In those days, all the available evidence—primarily from the Republic of Ireland—suggested that acceding to additionality would cut the number of tickets sold. We have moved on since then, and we must not impugn each other’s honesty on this matter.