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Channel Tunnel Rail Link (Supplementary Provisions) Bill

I am not just concerned about the ORR, but I am grateful for the Minister's assurance. If the Minister's information is that wording similar to the unamended wording in the Bill is extant in other legislation, I hope that, as a result of the debate, the Government will amend it. That can be done without the need for a long-winded piece of full legislation under the deregulatory regime introduced by the Government in the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006. Since that Act was passed, I have noticed a great paucity of measures brought forward under it. At the end of the debate, the Minister might seek to break the mould and suggest that that the modest deregulatory measure that we have suggested should be applied to all other legislation that is so worded. I hope that that is useful. On amendment No. 2, my right hon. Friend the Member for East Yorkshire is on to a good point. I should much prefer it if people who paid the fee on time or earlier got a discount. That would be better than penalising late payment in the way envisaged in the Bill. Unamended, the Bill puts the ORR in a position that is different from the one occupied by everyone else in the country. If I provide a service for which the bill is not paid on time, I cannot arbitrarily increase the size of that bill to reflect its late payment. I can issue a writ or summons to recover the money, and I might be able to charge a modest rate of interest and claim any associated costs, but the Bill goes rather further. That is why I believe that my right hon. Friend for East Yorkshire is on to a good thing with amendment No. 2.