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Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill

It is really very difficult to keep a straight face, Sir Nicholas. What is really disappointing is that when the process of this Bill began, all the Front Benchers were saying, "Of course we will be open to amendments. This Bill is not fixed in stone, and we will bring it forward in a spirit of taking sensible amendments." Indeed, when the Cabinet Secretary was in front of our Committee just last week, the same was said when we raised a similar issue with him, so I am afraid there is a mismatch here with the spirit in which we all engaged upon this Bill. There is a genuine desire across the House to get the Bill done. It is rooted in a political consensus, so it is very difficult to understand why the Government want to insist on something that, as the Minister has just described it, is completely unnecessary. Given that we simply want the commission to be able to make a report if, in certain circumstances, it wants to do so, why on earth would we want to stop it? The commission itself would only do that if it thought the occasion warranted it. We have reached a level of absurdity, and I say to my right hon. Friend the Minister in a spirit of comradeship that resistance is not necessary at this point.