Constitutional Reform (Prerogative Powers and Civil Service etc.) Bill [HL]

My Lords, I shall explain one matter to the noble and learned Lord. It is probably because of the drafting that it is not clear, but I shall explain how the prerogative provisions are meant to work. First, under Clause 1, Parliament becomes king, rather than the king; in other words, the prerogatives are placed under Parliament. Then what happens is that there is a standstill period of two years during which nothing changes, except when one deals with matters such as treaties and the Civil Service. Then there is to be an oversight committee, which is quite well explained in the Explanatory Notes, which will review the defined prerogative powers and decide what is to be done about them. This is a transitional mechanism to ensure that the executive are given time to explain the prerogative powers, and Parliament is then able to give approval on a particular basis. It is not the Bill’s intention to give a blank cheque to the executive, clothed in parliamentary authority, to exercise prerogative powers. On the contrary, the principle behind the Bill—and I am sorry if it is not clear—is for Parliament to assert its authority but to give the executive time to identify the prerogative powers. I hope that I have clarified rather than obfuscated the position.