---

Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill

I understand that the hon. Gentleman is trying to reach the right outcome, but I do not share his optimism that an assurance from Ministers on the Treasury Bench that they will not apply what is clearly laid out in statutory form in their proposals would have any value whatever. The Select Committee would be very constrained in the criteria that it could use to determine whether the procedure was right. It is transparently obvious that if a Minister did not like the result of the Select Committee’s considerations, he would overrule it in the House. There is nothing in the provisions to stop a Minister behaving in that way. Even if the excellent new Minister on the Treasury Bench was absolutely determined that he would not use the provisions in that way, I do not believe that the writ of the Parliamentary Secretary to the Cabinet Office—or is it to the Duchy of Lancaster, I am not sure of the exact title?—would run to the Home Secretary or to the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs.