My Lords, I must agree with every word that the noble and learned Lord, Lord Thomas, has just said. I thank my colleague and noble friend Lord Sharkey for putting this amendment where it is, because the fundamental constitutional issue that underpins this Bill is probably one of the most crucial that we will address, not just in the next days of debate but, frankly, as a Parliament. I think that if the public had any sense of the authority that is now, in a sense, being passed to regulators without accountability—and to some extent to the Treasury without accountability—frankly, they would look at us and say to Parliament, “That is a dereliction of duty. We expect you to be responsible”.
This is not just a political process but part of a fundamental democratic process. As others, including the noble Lord, Lord Naseby, have said, what could be more fundamental than framing an industry that not only determines so much of our national economy but, when it goes badly wrong, can completely undermine that whole economy. I very much support the amendment brought by my noble friend. I know that it was tabled to trigger discussion and I look forward to the further debate that we will have later.
4.45 pm
However, I want to narrow in on one point that I simply do not understand; others may have a much better understanding than I do. I want to draw the Minister’s attention to her Amendment 28, which would, basically,
“authorise the making of subordinate legislation by the Treasury”—
I assume for the purposes of transition. I cannot work out exactly how extensive this power is. The explanatory statement says that it would
“include the power to confer new regulation-making powers on the Treasury”,
but, of course, the word “legislation” is in the amendment itself. Is this a permanent power for the Treasury, or does the Minister anticipate that this will be used just during a very brief transitional period? Does “subordinate legislation” mean that these are statutory instruments and, if so, are they negative or affirmative? What decides which of those they are? I am trying to get a sense of the scope of the power that is being transferred to the Treasury, and I do not think that the explanatory statement serves to expose that. I would like the Minister to give us a complete understanding of exactly what we are being asked to sign up to.