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Health Bill

In conclusion, I very much hope that the Minister will consider being very specific about the date of implementation of the Bill. I thought that the noble Earl, Lord Howe, rather overstated the case on behalf of the pub trade. He said that members of the pub trade thought that the Bill would not be as comprehensive as it turned out to be and that it would be introduced later. In fact, an overwhelming number of members of the pub trade lobbied for these provisions in the Bill because they felt that those in the previous form of the Bill were uncertain and created an unlevel playing field, and, by and large, they much preferred the provisions of this Bill. I believe that it is much more straightforward to implement the provisions of this Bill, as voted on by the other place, than would have been the case with the format of the previous Bill. There is absolutely no reason why the Bill should not be implemented on 14 March next year.