I have great respect for your skills as a Chairman, Mr. Stevenson, and I shall endeavour to keep my remarks in order.

Goodness knows what the Government were thinking when they included the word ''colony'' in the Bill. It is a throwback to imperialist thinking, and I was under the impression that we had moved on. My hon. Friend the Member for North Dorset is right that the word sends entirely the wrong signals. It is not only clumsy drafting, but a basic mistake.

Conservative Members feel strongly about the issue because we feel strongly about our overseas territories, which we do not want to insult or patronise. We feel strongly that they have much to offer, particularly now that we are left with a hard core of such territories. Once, there were big questions about Hong Kong's future as a dependent territory and about whether part of it would remain with Britain ad infinitum or whether all of it would move back to China under the terms of the lease. However, that is history, and we are left with 14 overseas territories. To call them colonies, as the Bill does, is insulting. It is patronising and it sends completely the wrong signals. I urge the Minister to support the amendment.