---

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill

The noble Lord ought to look at the history of filibustering, particularly its origins. By no standards can the reasoned arguments that we are putting forward count as filibustering. I have not heard anyone make a five-hour speech—20 minutes seemed to get up everyone’s nose. However, I do take the noble Lord’s point. My late father used to say to me: ““Stop knocking your head against the wall. Do you not realise that you will feel better when you stop doing it?””. There is a genuine question of when we on our side give up. I am not in command of that, but I take the noble Lord’s point when he asks us why we do not accept defeat. I was a boy during the war and I lived in London during the blitz. I know it is not a good analogy, but we did not accept defeat then, and on our side we do not intend to accept defeat now.