Proceeding contribution from Thomas Docherty (Labour) in the House of Commons on Friday, 9 September 2011. It occurred during Debate on bill on Legislation (Territorial Extent) Bill.
Legislation (Territorial Extent) Bill
I am grateful. I know that there is a Fixed-term Parliaments Bill somewhere, but I do not think it is excellent. I would be well out of line if I were to be drawn down that road. Another issue that has not been dealt with is where the Legislation (Territorial Extent) Bill would leave the Parliament Acts. If we do not solve the issue of the Lords and how we define an English-only Lord, Bills could be significantly delayed because they cannot command a majority in the other place, even though they do in this place. I will not get sucked into a debate about House of Lords reform, as I would be out of order, but if we allow the Bill to go forward without addressing the issue of the House of Lords, we could have a House of Lords that reflects the UK electoral results, but not the lower House. Ping-pong would inevitably occur. I would be grateful if the Minister set out how the commission will address that and whether he believes that the Bill deals adequately with the issue. The final question that I shall bring to the attention of the House in the hope that the Minister can provide guidance is what will happen with respect to consultation with outside parties. Representations might be made by devolved Administrations that a future Bill impacts on them. If a Secretary of State picks a narrow definition and says, ““No, this applies only to me,”” but the three First Ministers all say, ““No, we can see a compelling case,”” who would have the final say? Would it be the Secretary of State? Does the Minister agree that that issue needs to be worked through as part of the West Lothian question? I am grateful for your patience, Mr Deputy Speaker, and for your guidance, as ever. I shall now sit down, as I know the Minister has some thoughts to share as well.
Secondary information
- Type
- Proceeding contribution
- Reference
- 532 c684
- Session
- 2010-12
- Chamber / Committee
- House of Commons chamber
- Subjects
- Jurisdiction Legislation Ministerial duties West Lothian question English votes for English laws
- Legislation
- Legislation (Territorial Extent) Bill 2010-12
- Link
- View this Proceeding contribution on www.publications.parliament.uk
Librarians' tools
- Timestamp
- 2023-12-15 18:49:19 +0000
- URI
- http://data.parliament.uk/pimsdata/hansard/CONTRIBUTION_768049
- In Indexing
- http://indexing.parliament.uk/Content/Edit/1?uri=http://data.parliament.uk/pimsdata/hansard/CONTRIBUTION_768049
- In Solr
- https://search.parliament.uk/claw/solr/?id=http://data.parliament.uk/pimsdata/hansard/CONTRIBUTION_768049