Two useful Bills pass the Lords

 This morning, two Bills with cross-party support passed Third Reading in the Upper House. 

First, Lord Faulkner's Heritage Railways and Tramways (Voluntary Work) Bill passed, in spite of government opposition. If enacted (and it has to pass the Commons next), it would override 1920 legislation regarding the employment of children in respect of voluntary activity on heritage railways. Viscount Younger of Leckie for the government objected that there was no need for a new act, because the Office of the Rail Regulator had undertaken not to prosecute under the 1920 act if heritage railways or tramways were concerned. However, supporters of the Bill pointed out that this did not rule out private prosecutions and that insurance companies could well be wary of underwriting activities which would be deemed unlawful.

Then Lord Redesdale, a scion of the Mitford family as I like to remind people, a Liberal Democrat peer, successfully steered through another Lords-originated measure, the Ecology Bill. The government could hardly object to a Bill which requires "the Secretary of State to achieve the nature target for the United Kingdom" - keeping the government to the promises they so freely give to international conferences on ecology and the like. It will be interesting to see how it fares in the Commons.