Gambling Bill (committee stage)

Lord Faulkner of Worcester:

There are in the Chamber at this late hour five members of the Joint Scrutiny Committee that looked at the draft gambling Bill. Noble Lords will recall that that Bill is very different from the one that we are approving today.

The committee was completely united on the need for new gambling legislation, the establishment of the Gambling Commission and new regulations to take account of the changes in technology that have occurred since the last occasion on which Parliament reviewed the law on gambling. If the price of getting that legislation is that there must be fewer casinos than the Government would have preferred, it is worth paying.

There was considerable unease in the joint scrutiny committee about the prospect of a free market applying to where the new large regional casinos should be located. One of the ironies of the free market argument was that, if there were to be a significant number of regional casinos elsewhere in the north-west, the one place where one would not finish up was Blackpool. The circle has now turned completely, and it seems very probable that the process that the Government are setting up will come to the logical conclusion that Blackpool is the right place.

I do not intend to repeat the speech made by the noble Lord, Lord Blaker, although I agreed with every word of it. I do not think that the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, is right to say that there is substantial opposition in the town. Certainly, the Joint Scrutiny Committee was satisfied by the strength of support that we found at all levels—from councillors and elsewhere.

It is interesting that the press release put out by the Conservative Party earlier this week in the name of Mr John Whittingdale states:

"We have . . . told the Government that we will accept the establishment of just one regional casino as a prototype, in order to assess its impact. Its location should be a leisure resort where the regeneration potential is greatest. The case for locating such a casino in Blackpool is very strong".

I do not disagree with that. I do not expect my noble friend to comment on it, but I am sure that the team of wise people that he sets up will take account of what the Conservative Party have said, what the leader of the Liberal Democrat Peers said so forcefully earlier and what a number of other Members of this House have said in favour of giving Blackpool the opportunity to prove whether or not regeneration can be achieved through casino development.

The Government are sensible to agree, through the usual channels, to allow that to happen. It is crucial that we pass the Bill tonight. I commend the work that my noble friend Lord McIntosh has done in that respect.

© Lords Hansard 6 April 2005