My Lords, I do not want to detain the House too long on these amendments and have a long argument on the respective merits of “may” and “must”, as I understand there are certain legislative interpretations of that. However, as I said earlier, we are concerned that a lot remains to be decided in the secondary legislation. Therefore, we want to be as firm as we can about what the primary legislation lays down. If the Minister can confirm that “may” means “must”, I understand that there will be no problem. All I seek is clarity and to leave the draftsmen to draft what is appropriate in the circumstances in legislative speak, hoping that “may” equals “must” in a layman’s understanding.
However, Amendment 33AR is a more substantial and significant amendment as it seeks to align and clarify the definition of “tie”. Clause 68(5) defines “tie”, saying:
“Condition D … is subject to a contractual obligation that some or all of the alcohol to be sold at the premises”,
et cetera. Amendment 33AR seeks to widen that by inserting,
“product or service tie supplied or provided by”,
as other ties exist in pubs. We want to align this definition with the definition in Clause 43(4)(a)(ii), which states,
“does not contain any product or service tie other than one in respect of insurance in connection with the tied pub”.
We are seeking to clarify the definition of a tied pub. I beg to move.