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Charities Bill [HL]

My Lords, I add my sincere thanks to the Minister for all that he has done and for his patience. It seems to have been a long time since we started. The Second Reading of the Bill in its original form was on Thursday 20 January, so I am not surprised that there have been 60 hours of debate. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Phillips, who kept me on the straight and narrow from a legal point of view. I also thank the Bill team and the Charity Commission. I felt that we would never get to a position where there were fewer than 100 amendments on the Marshalled List. We got down to 59 today, which was a big advance. Those of us who want to keep legislation short should remember that we have managed to expand the Bill from 72 to 78 clauses and from 129 to 172 pages. That is the result of our efforts, so we have not been as good at holding down the size of the legislation, but I am sure that, thanks to the work of the Minister, the Bill team, Members of the House and outside advisers, the Bill is a very much better piece of legislation. As we wave the Bill goodbye, I express the hope that, in the nicest possible way, we never have to see it again. On Question, Bill passed, and sent to the Commons.