Commons Bill [HL]

I rise to speak to Amendments Nos. 163A and 180A in this group. In the first instance I am slightly curious about the wording used in the Government’s amendment. It may be only for reasons of economy, but Amendment No. 163 would mean that Clause 30(4)(a) would read ““or the exercise of rights”” to use any surplus of land, whereas in the previous line it states, ““on the exercise of rights””. Perhaps the Minister would like to look at that again. I shall explain the purpose behind Amendment No. 163A. Defra has said that these clauses have been designed to address landowners’ residual grazing rights. Commentators state that generally, landowners’ surplus rights are equivalent to residual grazing rights, but that terminology is vague. To avoid confusion and to bring clarity to this, these clauses should be amended so that they refer specifically to ““surplus grazing rights””.