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Legislative Process

I shall give way in a moment, as I know that the hon. Lady has been involved in the matter as well. If we had sought in our report to say that the people who had brought the action against Saudi Arabia were right, I can see that that would be treading on the judiciary’s turf. We do not want the judiciary on our turf, so in general we should stay off its turf. But that must be done around the narrow definition of what the case is about and whether we, as Parliament, are seeking to pass judgment or whether individual Members speaking in this place are seeking to come to a conclusion which it is the rightful business of the courts to do. The rule needs to be much narrower. I am not satisfied that either of the Procedure Committee’s reports and their reference to the Speaker’s discretion, which I shall come to, are enough to address the problem.