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Postal Services Bill [HL]

While I have sympathy with the objectives of my noble friend’s amendments, we must be cautious about the appropriate role of Parliament versus the Executive here. There is a point at which the role of Parliament is to define objectives and give the Government permission to take a course of action, but Parliament should then let the Executive get on with it while holding them to account. I have a slight concern that, in some of the things that we are asking to be brought back to Parliament, such as negotiation details and choice of partner—whether they are the best partner to add value or successfully manage stakeholder issues—we might be crossing the line by getting Parliament too involved in executive matters of judgment and discussions. It would potentially be difficult to have commercial information shared in a way that would allow Parliament to participate in that decision properly. I want to ensure that we consider the precedent of what role Parliament should properly play.