Legal Services Bill [HL]

My Lords, I am most grateful to the noble Baroness for her reply; but I will not disguise from your Lordships’ House my dismay at hearing it. I will not press the noble Baroness about the status of her statement at col. 163 of the Official Report on 9 January 2007. However, if it is not a commitment, it is as close to a commitment that one could possibly get. The decision by the noble Baroness not to support an affirmative resolution undermines her earlier statement about the motives of the Government in including this provision in the first place. The noble Baroness said that the proof that the Government have honourable intentions will be through the ability of your Lordships’ House to have a debate when the affirmative resolution is tabled. The noble Baroness gave one or two other reasons for the fact that she thought again about an affirmative resolution, but I must say that I found them exceedingly unconvincing. The idea that the Government have now decided to move away, as a constitutional practice, from tabling affirmative resolutions is risible. Bills nowadays are characteristically skeleton Bills and one sees no change in Government legislative policy. I do not accept that a negative order is the sameas an affirmative resolution. There are strong constitutional conventions about praying against negative orders, which the House—I hope the noble Baroness will agree with me—respects. I shall not press this to a vote, but I will seriously consider bringing forward this matter at Third Reading. In the mean time, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.