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Civil Aviation Bill

I have a great deal of sympathy with the point being made by my noble friend and I recognise that the noble Lord, Lord Hanningfield, rather abruptly decoupled his amendment when it would have been helpful to this debate. With the best will in the world, no one can move the adjournment of the Grand Committee while the amendment is before it. If the noble Lord continued to speak, he could certainly take us to 7.30, but he would be asked to withdraw the amendment, otherwise we would stay in session until that decision was taken. It might even be a quarter past two tomorrow morning when he reached that decision—but we cannot help him in this matter. I am certainly prepared to indicate my complete acceptance of an adjournment of the Committee and for this debate to continue, but I do not believe that I am in a position to help. I am mindful of the fact that the noble Lord, Lord Hanningfield, has decoupled his amendment and that we shall return to this debate. Surely my noble friend recognises that he has only one way out, which is to return to the debate when the noble Lord, Lord Hanningfield, proposes his amendment later and gain the benefits of finishing 15 minutes earlier than we would have done otherwise.