Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill

Having listened carefully to what my hon. Friend the Minister said, I think that she reflects very sensibly the desire of the Law Commission and this House to make progress on some of the less controversial issues. Clearly, we have to reflect carefully on how we deal with the more controversial ones. I fully endorse the Opposition spokesman’s view that this leads us to reflect on what kind of veto the House has, where it can be exercised and by whom. There is a very important point that I invite my hon. Friends on the Front Bench to reflect on before we reach the section on the veto. While I am minded fully to support the principles set out in the new clauses that we are dealing with, I am predicating my remarks on a veto of similar power to that which existed in respect of the 2001 legislation, but on the face of the Bill. The ministerial understanding was one that the House would not tolerate being broken; I think that hon. Members on both sides of the House would agree with that. The hon. Member for North-East Hertfordshire (Mr. Heald) is right to say that the Government have proposed a veto, but the qualifications that are being proposed create problems for us. I want to make a few quick observations on the important contribution made by my hon. Friend the Minister. First, her remarks need to be looked at in the context of the commitment given to the Chairman of the Procedure Committee and me by the previous Minister in the Cabinet Office, my hon. Friend the Member for East Renfrewshire (Mr. Murphy), that there would be significant changes to the Standing Orders available to the House. I hope that my second observation will take some of the sting out of hon. Members’ concerns. Clause 16 contains provisions that will enable the House to require the Minister to have regard to representations from the outside, as well as any resolution of either House or any recommendations by a Committee of either House charged with dealing with a draft order. On that basis, I believe that new clause 21 makes eminent sense, because the protections are there. However, amendment (b), tabled by the Liberal Democrats, also makes sense. Some of the issues that the Law Commission deals with have gathered dust over a number of years, for the reasons that the Chairman of the Procedure Committee outlined, as well as for many other complex reasons. It might be sensible to make provision for such eventualities, as proposed in amendment (b), although I do not think that amendment (a) is necessary, because of provisions contained elsewhere in the legislation.