Electoral Administration Bill

My Lords, the Minister has, once again, made a very wise decision; this is a controversial area of the Bill. There was enormous concern about how anybody could know when an election would take place and consequently foresee when election expenses would start to be incurred. It is appropriate that those provisions should be removed. If Sir Hayden Phillips is to look at other matters, he might look at those as well, but I hope he does not come to a different conclusion from that of the Minister. This matter has been debated over the years; the fact is that there needs to be a rational day on which expenses should start being incurred, otherwise people have no idea how much they can spend. I thank the noble Baroness for having come back with this sensible conclusion.