Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill

My Lords, I wish to speak to Amendment No. 135 in this group. It is an all-party amendment, in the names of the noble Lord, Lord Judd, the noble Baronesses, Lady Byford and Lady Miller of Chilthorne Domer, and me. The noble Lord, Lord Judd, is abroad on parliamentary business, so he has asked me to lead on it in his absence. I am more than glad to do so. Like the noble Lord, I am a vice-president of the Council for National Parks. I have a procedural difficulty: if we were to agree to all three amendments in this group, the amendment of the noble Lord, Lord Livsey, would be left in the air because Clause 59, which he seeks to amend, would have been replaced by the new Clause 59 proposed in our Amendment No. 135. If the amendment of the noble Lord, Lord Livsey failed, but the new Clause 59—as contained in the amendment of the noble Lord, Lord Judd—were agreed to, Wales would be left out in the cold. I am sure that we would all deplore that state of affairs. In the circumstances, it would be better to postpone these three amendments tonight and deal with them at Third Reading. That would allow the various parties to sit down and get an organised amendment to put before the House. I would be happy to go along with something like that. May I ask the Government for a reaction? I suggest that I now give way to the Minister to get a reaction. If the Government want the House to press on with this tonight, I shall go back to my speech.