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Flood and Water Management Bill

I thank the noble Lord for giving way. The custom of the House is that we do not vote down government statutory instruments. We seek to reason with the Government over statutory instruments, but it is not our practice to table fatal amendments. Unfortunately, other parties take a different view. We consider that there is a long-standing agreement between the two Houses of Parliament that this is the way in which we conduct our business. It serves the House well because it gives us an opportunity to debate issues. We have found that it is possible to reason with the Government on statutory instruments through this process. I am sorry that I cannot accept the criticism of the noble Lord, which may contain a certain amount of provocation. The truth is that tabling fatal amendments to statutory instruments is foolhardy and counterproductive, given the custom of the House.