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Parliamentary Standards Bill

My Lords, I address your Lordships today with reluctance. Despite the great range of expertise on the subject before us, we found on the Labour Benches that none of my noble friends, except my noble friend Lord Barnett, felt able to take part in this debate. Therefore, both I and my noble friend felt that we had no choice—we had to take part. I begin by thanking my noble friend the Leader of the House for her introduction to this debate and for her obvious desire to be conciliatory. As an example, I had thought that the Prime Minister had said in terms that the principles of the Bill would be applied to reform of the House of Lords when that took place. That, I must admit, frightened the life out of me, but I understand from my noble friend that that was based on a complete misinterpretation and that, when we come to reform, we are not going to be told, "You accepted this for the Commons Bill; therefore, you have to accept it for the Lords Bill". I hope that, when she replies to the debate, my noble friend will reassure me that I did not misunderstand what she said and that we will not be confronted with that argument. If we are, my view is that we ought to throw this Bill out rather than amend it.