My Lords, the Government would be wise to accept at least some of the spirit of these amendments. The first of the amendments deals with the whole issue of getting a better grip on what the impact really is. We have had a pathetic impact assessment put before us—one that bears no relation to any costs that any of the trade unions, whatever their persuasion on other matters may be, would recognise. We have not managed to assess what the impact would be on the resources and costs of the certification officers. We have a pause now in which the Government could put that right so that the next time we come to debate the issue we will have more robust figures, perhaps some degree of consensus about what it means and at least a range of figures we could sensibly talk about. At the moment we have virtually none of that.
The heaviest comment on it has been the Regulatory Reform Committee’s view that all of this is unsupported in the normal way in which we approach new regulation. The Government have got to get out from under that
at some point and they have time to do it. Therefore the requirement in the amendment of my noble friend Lord Monks that more information should be put in the Library before we return to this issue on Report would be sensible from everyone’s point of view, particularly that of the Government.
As to the commencement date, obviously the Government are reluctant to put in a later commencement date than they would like. On the other hand, put at its gentlest, we know that the Bill is a bit of a mess—and not only this part. There is serious criticism of the scope of Part 1 and very serious criticism, concern and widespread apprehension about Part 2. By being gung-ho and requiring that nearly all of the clauses within the Bill should come into effect immediately the Act is passed, the Government do not serve their cause well. They certainly do not serve well the cause of implementing any part of the Bill because they will need to take a large chunk of civic society with them, including in this respect the trade unions and in other respects a wide range of organisations.
It is therefore not sensible for the effect of 90% of the Bill to start on day one. The Government will come back and say that that is not really what it means because from day one they can draw up the secondary legislation, and so in that sense it is the secondary legislation that will have a commencement date. That is all very well but, given that there are controversial issues such as this in all three parts of the Bill and that we have not seen any draft secondary legislation—and will not see any by the time we reach Report, as I understand it—a judgment by ourselves cannot be made and, more importantly, cannot be made by those organisations that are affected by each of the three parts of the Bill. A later commencement date for the whole of the Bill, with proper consultation on the secondary legislation, would be a sensible move.
Of course, there is such a thing as a general election. I hesitate to return to an earlier discussion, provoked by the noble Lord, Lord Tyler—I nearly called him “my noble friend”—that revealed that there was at least some suspicion or understanding that this would affect political funding. However, if that is the case and it is an important motivation for the Bill—and if the Government refuse to go further than the rather Delphic statement that the Minister repeated at least twice, which got us no further down the line—we know that there is not going to be a deal between the parties on political funding this side of the election. However, whatever our backgrounds, we all recognise that there is a possibility at some point we will have to change the rules in relation to political funding generally. The only way we can do that is by consensus. We will not do it before an election but whoever wins the election might be in a position to do it afterwards. That is an important consideration. If, so close to an election, the Government appear to be taking pre-emptive action on this front, affecting one party only, the possibility of a multiparty agreement will become more remote after the election.
In a sense, that is a separate argument. I am trying to look at it in part from the Government’s point of view, as they seek to deliver this with a reasonable amount of support from civic society. In any case, they will need to think of a fairly long timescale for
implementation. If they do not, they will be in trouble not only with the trade unions, but with a large chunk of civic society and those who expected this Government to deliver on lobbying in way that actually adds up to something. In that case, the Bill will be seen as a damp squib on the one hand and a provocation on the other. I do not think that this is in the Government’s interests.
I suggest that the Minister should take this back to his colleagues, talk to them and agree that we should have a somewhat later commencement date—probably for all three sections of the Bill but certainly for this one.