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Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill

If that is so, while I do not expect Ministers, even of this Administration, to behave in such a crass fashion, we must somehow bring back into balance what my noble friend on the Front Bench has pointed out: the difference, in effect, between risk and hazard. There is a risk that a meteor will strike this building, but it is a risk one should take no account of because there is nothing we can do about it and the chances of it happening are incredibly remote. There is also a risk that I will be run over when crossing the road—almost certainly because I would not have been looking where I was going while my mind was elsewhere. However, we take measures to try to protect me and millions of other people from being idiotic when crossing the road—we separate motor cars from pedestrians. There is a difference between a risk and a hazard. I have a great deal of sympathy with the Government on this because it is not always them doing it; someone else may be doing it in their name. But we ought to be able to put into any regulations we introduce a provision which reflects the point so well made by my noble friend Lady Wilcox.