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Health Bill

That was not quite the point that I was making. The reason we are given, whether by the Government or the Minister, for why we should not alter this Bill is that the House of Commons has passed it by a 200 majority, and therefore we should get on with it. The fact is that the House of Lords, elected or not, is the only second chamber we have. If we are not here to scrutinise that legislation and put alternative points of view that might not have been discussed or even thought of in the House of Commons, why on earth are we sitting here? What is the point of moving amendments and speaking to them, trying to persuade the Government that we are right and to get them to adopt a different approach? If we are not here to do that, why are we wasting our time? That is my point. I have made it several times before, and I will continue to make it for as long as the Government, through the Minister, believe that the fact that the House of Commons has passed the Bill is the end of the matter, and that we can talk as much as we like and make reasonable, even unanswerable arguments, but we are still going to have the Bill as it came from the Commons. I do not believe that that is why we are here, and I hope that, in spite of what the Minister has said on behalf of the Government, we shall continue to examine the Bill and try to persuade the Government that there are ways of dealing with the problem that they perceive other than taking away rights that people have enjoyed for hundreds of years.