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House of Lords (Members’ Taxation Status) Bill [HL]

I do not agree with the noble Earl, Lord Ferrers, about that, because the February 2007 White Paper that led to the votes was predicated on the primacy of the House of Commons continuing. Without giving away any secrets of the cross-party working group, on which the noble Earl's party is represented by the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde, the leader of the Conservative Party in this House—he is making, if I may say so, a major contribution to our discussions—a point that unites all members of that group is the maintenance of the primacy of the House of Commons. The work being taken forward is on that basis. As for whether it is appropriate for the noble Lord’s Bill to have been allowed to be, I can say only that since the House authorities have accepted that it can be debated here, with all my experience of the wisdom of those authorities, I am sure that that is entirely appropriate.