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Postal Services Bill [HL]

I thought it was obvious from what I was saying that this was a probing amendment. However, I have got the answer I wanted. When the Secretary of State started to reply, I immediately thought "Come off it". He does not recognise the description of Governments that I gave? Of course he does. He knows perfectly well that battles royal go on almost daily between officials—sometimes very senior officials and very often involving their Secretaries of State—where departmental requirements differ diametrically from each other. I have absolutely no doubt that this happens under all Governments of all political persuasions and has done ever since Governments were reinvented. Many years ago, of course, we had only two departments of state but, alas, those days are gone for ever. I am pleased that the Secretary of State’s department will be in control throughout, although he admitted that it will be with the advice and sometimes the consent of the Treasury. Every now and again, I suspect, he will also find the need for advice from the pension section of the Department for Works and Pensions. Be that as it may, we now know that there will be one person and one department in overall control of the situation and I am very pleased to hear it. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment 40A withdrawn.