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Governance of Britain

My Lords, I find myself in some difficulty in responding to the Statement. At about 11.40 am, while I was engaged in the debate on the Legal Services Bill, I was handed three documents, which, as I understand it, form the basis of the ministerial Statement. It is simply not possible to respond to substantial parts of the Statement without reading the documents first. I shall give the Minister one example. He suggested that the Government might be looking further at the issue of judicial independence and, at the end of the paragraph dealing with that matter, he stated: "““The consultation paper published today outlines possible options for additional reform, on which the Government would welcome views””." However, since I have not the faintest idea what those options are, it is not possible for me to respond in any constructive sense. Indeed, I find myself, being in total ignorance of the contents of these documents, at a loss to know how I should respond. Nevertheless, of course, I shall.