Health Bill

I will read Hansard with great interest, as I am sure will other Members of the Grand Committee, because that is not all that the noble Lord, Lord Faulkner, said. He said, in virtually as many words, that because there was a free vote—for whatever reason; that is irrelevant—the manifesto commitment no longer applied. I am sorry, but that is exactly what I heard and I am sure that it is what a lot of other noble Lords heard. If so, are we really to say that Governments can go to the country with a manifesto, get elected partially on the back of that manifesto and then say, ““Oh, no, we have changed our minds””? I would like the Minister on behalf of the Government to give the Grand Committee a very clear steer on this subject. Is this government policy or is it not government policy? The other avenue on which I would appreciate the Minister’s guidance relates to the European Convention on Human Rights. We have all looked at this and at the Explanatory Notes. The words that are used are very interesting. I will quote them again, because they are worth repeating. The Explanatory Notes ask whether using measures in,"““this Bill to control the use of products which are lawfully on sale to persons over 16 would breach the rights in Article 8””." That is the question: would it breach those rights? The Explanatory Notes continue:"““Any interference with such rights is””—" in the Government’s opinion—"““justified on the grounds of protection of heath””." I am not a brilliant English linguist, but what is the definition of ““breach”” and what is the definition of ““interference””? I suggest that in things like Explanatory Notes they are synonymous. If one is a breach and the other is interference, but the interference is all right and the breach is not, then we are really getting into very deep waters. It will not surprise Members of the Grand Committee to hear that I strongly support my noble friend Lord Naseby. He has an extremely good case for including in the Bill these two fundamental points about private dwellings—I emphasise ““private””—and private vehicles—again, I emphasise ““private””.