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European Union (Amendment) Bill

My Lords, I am goaded into contributing to this debate, having done so in Committee, not because I have the honour to be chairman of the sub-committee of the committee of the noble Lord, Lord Grenfell, that is likely to have to deal with these home affairs matters, but by the remarks of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Morris, endorsed by the noble Lord, Lord Rowlands—both friends of mine—which were entirely wrong. The noble and learned Lord, Lord Morris, said that this was not scrutiny but scrutiny-plus. I profoundly disagree. Over the next moment or two, I shall speak on the whole spectrum of parliamentary scrutiny. The proposal is clearly second-class scrutiny. Let us look at other forms of parliamentary scrutiny. Some statutory instruments are subject to affirmative resolution. Parliament is faced with 150 to 200 of those statutory instruments, which the Minster is not allowed to sign and turn into law unless there is a positive, affirmative resolution by both Houses. The proposal of the noble Baroness the Leader of the House denies that procedure to issues of opt-ins and opt-outs. Opt-ins are significantly the more important, so I hope that the noble Baroness will explain, when she responds, why there should be an inferior form of scrutiny for them. As the noble and learned Lord, Lord Woolf, said, there are issues here that go to the heart of the judiciary. They are of huge importance. Many of those 150 to 200 statutory instruments are of infinitely less importance. They often go through both Houses on the nod, without debate, but must also be approved by both Houses in a debate. I ask the House to consider carefully whether it is wise, when we can equalise the level of scrutiny between statutory instruments and this issue, to give a future Government the opportunity, to quote the noble Baroness the Leader of the House, to ““pull a fast one””. She acknowledged that, under this procedure, Governments could ““pull a fast one””.