Criminal Defence Service Bill [Lords] (Programme) (No. 2)

The short length of the Committee stage, and the expediency of dealing with this business by hon. Members on both sides of the Committee, might lead the Government, or their Whips, to assume that this programming might not be objectionable. I am concerned, however, not least because of the expediency of the Bill’s earlier stages. Why do the Government now feel it necessary to place this straitjacket on our debate? To table this motion seems unnecessarily dismissive of the positive attitude that hon. Members have shown throughout the course of the Bill. It signifies a bullying attitude that was not present in Committee and that sets the wrong tone for our debate this afternoon.