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Fixed-term Parliaments Bill

I take my hon. Friend's point. However, in my experience of judicial review proceedings, no form of language has been completely successful in ousting the court's examination of a statute. This is a well-known phenomenon in administrative law. The House has, on several occasions, tried its very best, through expressions of the character that he mentions, to oust the jurisdiction of the courts, but the courts have said no. In this case, the Bill says that a certificate shall be ““conclusive for all purposes””, but the courts would be likely to say, ““That means 'a valid certificate will be conclusive for all purposes', and we are entitled to consider whether this is a valid certificate.”” It would be an act of purely voluntary self-restraint if the court said, ““In these circumstances we will treat this statute as non-justiciable.”” I can think of no examples of where the courts have yet done that. Certainly, they have held certain things to be non-justiciable, but usually because the duty is vague and the expression of the statute is more aspirational than definitive. In this case, it is clear what conditions are set out for the Speaker to pass a valid certificate for the purposes of an early election. In my judgment, it is not possible to rule out the courts' involvement. If that is right, we should pause. I say this to the Minister: please let us think long and hard about further consideration of this Bill, because it smacks of undue and undignified haste. I have spoken about the duration of the Parliament, and the monarch's integral and pivotal role in deciding on either declining a Dissolution, agreeing to a Dissolution or insisting on a Dissolution is vital. The Bill's imprecision on the nature of a no-confidence motion is vitally important. Why should we not pause in relation to fixed-term Parliaments? Why do we have to make law for the purposes of the long-term future? It is regrettable, and I have great trouble with this Bill, as I did with last week's Bill about the alternative vote referendum. As an Opposition, the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives frequently criticised the then Administration for piecemeal, incoherent and fragmentary reform in constitutional affairs. Why are we repeating that error? We should be taking a long-term, coherent view of our constitution. How can it be right that we decide the electoral cycle of this House not in conjunction with a consideration of what a reformed Second Chamber would look like? How can it be right that we decide the electoral system of this House not in conjunction with the electoral system that we shall use for the Second Chamber? That would be joined-up, mature and wise constitutional law-making; this looks like something very different. I say to my hon. Friend the Minister that it is embarrassing to be on these Benches having to listen to a Bill of this kind being put forward in such a way. I had hoped for better from this Government.