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Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill

I agree with the hon. Member for Ellesmere Port and Neston (Andrew Miller) that there is a need to return to this issue. Our criticism of the original proposal was not that there should not be an accelerated way of dealing with non-controversial Law Commission proposals; it is clear that there should be. We had three objections to what was proposed. The first was that there was an unrestricted power to amend, abolish or codify common law, which frankly is not something that can be done in a Committee. The second objection—this was the most important stumbling block for many hon. Friends—was the ability that the Bill gave to Ministers to amend Law Commission proposals and put them through the accelerated procedure without the House having the opportunity to debate what essentially would be new law that did not have the approval of the Law Commission in place. Thirdly, the absence of any ability for parliamentary amendment of Law Commission Bills was important. As we know, sometimes there is a necessity for amendment. All those objections have been swept away by the removal of clause 3 and of the references to the Law Commission from the title of the Bill, but the fact remains that we need to find a better way of dealing with this matter. The Minister knows that Baroness Ashton of Upholland has been speaking to Lord Goodhart and Lord Kingsland in another place to find a way through this impasse. They have brought into those discussions Mr. Justice Toulson, the former chairman of the Law Commission. It seems to me that something will emerge from that. May I urge the Minister to use his best endeavours to ensure that we have a similar discussion in this House? It is not purely a matter for the legal brains in the Lords. I would have expected the Leader of the House to talk to us corporately—both to Front-Bench Members and to colleagues on the Back Benches who take an interest— about the appropriate way forward so that we can make real progress and so that changes in Standing Orders can be introduced, if that is required, to enable us to do a better job of dealing with Law Commission proposals. I am delighted that the Government have realised that what they proposed was not acceptable. I urge my hon. Friends to support the amendment.