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Digital Economy Bill [HL]

My Lords, I rise briefly in support of what was said by my noble friend Lord Clement-Jones. I have listened with great interest to this debate on what we ought to do. I was waiting to hear from the experts we have in this Chamber exactly what perils they think could be dealt with by the technological developments that are going to be covered by the operation of Clause 17, if it is implemented. I was very interested that the noble Earl, Lord Erroll, and the noble Lord, Lord Lucas, both of whom are experts in this debate, came down on the side of my noble friend Lord Clement-Jones and do not think that this is necessary. If there were perils that we ought to look forward to in the future, I am sure that, having listened to the noble Earl and the noble Lord, Lord Lucas, over the past three, four or five days of a lifetime, they would have brought them up, but they have not done so. They feel that such perils cannot be forecast. I hesitate to go against—I almost said my noble friend Lord Triesman, having just placed money on England winning the World Cup. I hesitate to go against him, because if he was wrong about Napster—as of course he was, as the noble Earl demonstrated—perhaps he is wrong about England winning the World Cup. He was certainly wrong about Napster, because as everybody has indicated, Napster, as an example of such a peril, would have been caught by the existing law. I want to make a very straightforward point. I do not have to declare an interest, but over the years I have been involved in advising media companies. For years those companies have wanted legislation to be passed to deal with the perils with which this Bill deals. What has happened? The Tory Government did nothing; the Labour Government did nothing. Now, right at the end and shortly before the election, the Government come up with a Bill to deal with a problem that has been there for years and years. Suddenly, surprise, surprise, they want to put a clause in that says, "By the way, if we have got it wrong, we want to be able to make a statutory instrument to amend it in the future". This is not a new problem. All these perils around technological developments and breaches of copyright have been going on for years. No Government have done anything about them, but suddenly the Government say, "We are going to do something about it now, but we want also to take the power to change it". I tell the Committee something else. The Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill has been going on for years and years. Why do the Government not put a clause in the Bill that says, "Oh, by the way, we are going to amend the constitution, but we might get it wrong so let us put in the power to amend it again by the affirmative resolution process?". Why do the Government not do that? That is the point of this Bill and that is why we oppose Clause 17.