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House Committee: Parliamentary Passes

My Lords, like the noble Lord, Lord Tomlinson, I do not make a habit of contesting the opinion of the Chairman of Committees when he comes before the House. I have not done so in the eight years in which I have been here, but the proposal to withdraw certain access privileges from MEPs is a bad one. It is wrong in principle, it is quite disproportionate to the objective pursued, it is untimely, and it reflects an attempted imposition of its will by the other place that is not justified in these circumstances. Others have stated that, as the EU Select Committee has recommended to the House, we need closer links now that we are moving into a period in which the European Parliament influences more of the legislation that we, too, consider. The proposal is disproportionate because all British MEPs are to be deprived of privileges in order to exclude a very small number of them. I do not object to that narrower objective being pursued, although one could argue that not much is to be gained by locking that particular door shortly after the BBC has let the horse bolt, but there must be better ways of achieving it than wielding a sledgehammer and landing it on our own foot. The proposal is untimely because the proposed exclusion would take place just when the Lisbon treaty is about to give the Parliament more powers. Finally, does it make any sense at all for us meekly to allow the other place to impose on us a decision that I regard as aberrant and about which it did not even consult us in advance? For all those reasons, I hope that we will not need to put this matter to a vote but that the Chairman of Committees will look further into this matter, as he very generously offered to do in his introduction, before any action is proposed. That would surely be the best option.