Steel Industry (Special Measures) Bill

Lord Fox Excerpts

Committee stage
Saturday 12th April 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Coffey (Con)]

My Lords, I will speak to the amendment tabled in my name. I am conscious of the extraordinary powers that are being granted to the Secretary of State today.

I will briefly speak in response to the amendment tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Freeman of Steventon. It is my understanding, having been in government, that anything in the name of the Secretary of State can be automatically delegated to a civil servant, but it cannot go beyond that. As we have seen in a number of cases, civil servants already have some powers to gain entry, but only in relation to specific Acts of Parliament—so perhaps this amendment would give a wide-ranging element.

This is clearly not an occasion to use the Civil Contingencies Act, but something that surprises me about this Bill is that the powers being given to the Government and the Secretary of State today are extraordinary and go way beyond what happened with the Coronavirus Act 2020. The inspiration for my amendment comes from the Bill that was presented to Parliament then. It set out that, to have scrutiny, a report would be put forward by the Secretary of State—over several periods, not just a year—and that there would be a debate on that report. Having a report matters because it would bring together how the powers have been used: have they been used in the way that both Houses anticipated? It may even extend to the provision of how the finances would be distributed for the regulations we have yet to see.

Overall, it is important that, when we give these powers for just one industry—I guess that if we were to name the company it would end up being a hybrid Bill, so that has been deliberately avoided to make sure that it covers the entire steel industry—we should be able to have regular discussions, not simply because this is the steel industry but due to the scale of the powers being granted. To that end, that is why I have literally lifted, with a bit of adjusting, what happened in the Coronavirus Act. Frankly, for something that took over our country in such an unprecedented way, I hope that the Government would concede to think carefully about how they will report back to this House and how this House can be involved.

[Lord Fox (LD)]

My Lords, I will speak to Amendment 5, which is in my name and that of my noble friend Lady Brinton.

The whole House heard my contribution during the take-note debate, and I am grateful for the subsequent supportive comments that noble Lords made to me afterwards. Amendment 5 reflects that contribution. As noble Lords can see, it calls for a debate in Parliament after six months. That would be a substantive debate on which the House could vote if it so decided.

The whole House also heard me pledge to work constructively with the Government to get a solution to the question of giving Parliament an opportunity to debate a possible continuation or cessation of these emergency powers. I hope that the constructive discussions we have had over the past hour or so will bear fruit and that the Minister will be able to accept the spirit, if not the letter, of Amendment 5 from her Dispatch Box. Like the noble Baroness, Lady Coffey, we too have, in a sense, lifted experience from Covid, but—with all due respect to her—we believe that Amendment 5 offers more flexibility to the Government while also giving the oversight that Parliament needs at a level that is not overbearing.

These are emergency powers and periodic debate is essential. Equally, the Minister called for sufficient flexibility for the power to be either kept or discarded. We should recognise that there will be times when this may need to be turned on and turned off, and the process I propose would allow that happen. Our amendment provides for that flexibility while also somewhat enhancing parliamentary scrutiny. I hope that the Minister can reassure your Lordships that she agrees with us.

[Lord Carter of Haslemere (CB)]

My Lords, I will make a brief supplementary point to the points made by the noble Lord, Lord Fox. I cannot support a sunset clause of the sort proposed by the noble Lord, Lord Hunt. That would cause these provisions to cease altogether after 12 months, and I think these provisions are necessary—albeit very draconian, as has been accepted.

I would have gone for a different option that combines a sunset provision with a debate, of the sort that we used to have with the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Acts, year after year, from 1989. We would have a clause providing for the expiry of the provisions after a certain period—be it six or 12 months—subject to renewal by an order subject to affirmative resolution. That would mean there would then be a debate in each House and approval would be required for the provisions to continue. We would have a debate but would also have the provision for expiry if the Houses voted for that. That is not here, but I am reassured that the noble Lord, Lord Fox, thinks that his amendment could procure a vote, because that is the key to this, with these powers being so draconian.

--- Later in debate ---

Tabled by

[Lord Fox]

5: After Clause 9, insert the following new Clause—
“Debate on provisions of this ActWithin six months of this Act coming into force, a Minister of the Crown must, in both Houses of Parliament, table a motion for debate on the continuing necessity of the provisions contained in this Act.”

[Lord Fox (LD)]

My Lords, I would just like to say a few words. I first thank the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, for his kind words—which I had not expected—but, mostly, I thank the Government Front Bench, in particular the Chief Whip, for the constructive discussions that we have had, which enabled the Minister to say the things that we hoped she would say. The point is that we understand the need for flexibility, but we also understand the need for parliamentary scrutiny. I hope that, between us, we have got to that point, thanks to the flexibility and the scrutiny that we have had over the past few hours.

Amendment 5 not moved.