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Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill

I suspect that all noble Lords who have spoken so far—I do not know whether this will necessarily apply to the Minister—have been singing, dare I say it, from the same hymn sheet but using different words. We have got the tune right and somehow before Report we have to get the words right. Different approaches have been suggested but perhaps I may start with the methods proposed by the noble Lord, Lord Goodhart. Generally we support one of his three approaches set out in his Amendments Nos. 52, 62 and 63, although we think there are problems with some of them. For example, Amendment No. 62 proposes a mechanism whereby in this House the Lord Speaker would adjudicate on whether a provision is of constitutional importance. I do not want to reignite debate about the role of the Lord Speaker, but that would widen the role ofthe Lord Speaker considerably, possibly to an unacceptable degree. Any extension of the Lord Speaker’s role should be considered carefully. It should not be a part of any other Bill; the whole House should consider the matter at an appropriate stage, as and when it arises. It should not be slipped into a Bill such as this. In addition to the three approaches of the noble Lord, Lord Goodhart, an alternative generic approach has been proposed by my noble friend Lord Norton, and a list method has been put forward by my noble friends Lord Jenkin of Roding and Lady Carnegy. A further variant on the list version is contained in Amendment No. 75A, in the name of my noble friend Lord Kingsland. The list suggested in my noble friend’s amendment is based on the Select Committee’s report and mirrors the list of enactments contained in paragraph 3; that is why it is longer than the one suggested by my noble friend Lord Jenkin. Perhaps the two lists could be merged, particularly to include the last two enactments in AmendmentNo. 75, put forward at the insistence of my noble friend Lady Carnegy. Most of the Committee seems to agree that there should be such a safeguard. We look forward very much to hearing from the Minister but I have a sneaking feeling that the important thing is for us to put our heads together before Report to reach an agreed approach. Whether we come forward with a list system or a generic system, we could put it to the Government on Report. In the mean time, I would like to hear what the Minister has to say.