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Banking Bill

This amendment is even more fun. Amendments 101 and 103 replace the words ““subserviate it to”” with ““subordinate it to the”” on the two occasions that they appear in Clause 58. My question is: is ““subserviate”” a word? My spellchecker does not think so and the word appears in virtually no dictionaries, although we found it in the Oxford English Dictionary, which cites only two known uses of the word. We may conclude that it just about qualifies as part of the English language. On the other hand, it is most definitely not a word used by lawyers apart, presumably, from the parliamentary draftsmen on this Bill. From our research the word has never been used before in an English statute. In another place the Minister first dismissed this as ““stylistic””, which my honourable friend took as a compliment, but agreed to consult officials. Perhaps officials really did persuade the Minister that mucking around with the English language and using words that no one has heard of is a good thing to do in legislation. In any event, I hope the Minister will have a rather better answer than we received in another place. I beg to move.