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

It is a very well established trend, if I may say so to my hon. Friend, and one that has developed over the last eight years or so. In the good old days, the Government would not have dreamed of doing anything like this. The tradition was observed that the Opposition by and large could control the pace of proceedings in the House and in Committee, rightly in my view, and only in the extreme would the Government introduce a guillotine or timetable motion to bring business to a proper close. That is the way it should have been. Now, the Government routinely and arbitrarily decide how much time will be allocated to business, leaving us simply to try to fit in as best we can.