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Parliamentary Standards Bill

It was useful to have that debate on Clause 5, although we spent a large amount of time talking about Clause 8. I am glad that we have clarified that Clause 8(3) is going and that there is the strongest possibility that Clause 8(2) will be removed, so that we will be left with just Clause 8(1). Other noble Lords who have spoken, including the noble Lord, Lord Lester of Herne Hill, have said that we are being asked to absorb a great many changes to the Bill from all the amendments that have been made. If we finish the Bill tonight—I have a feeling that we will not—it could be reprinted tomorrow, but if we continue Committee for, say, a couple of hours on Thursday, it will not be reprinted until Friday. I wonder—I have no idea of the answer—whether there is any way in which there could be some sort of interim publication to deal with all the amendments that we have already had to help us when we get to Report on Monday. The alternative is that Report on Monday may end up being a recommitment of the Bill; I am not sure that the Government would be very keen on that at all.