House of Lords Bill [HL]

My Lords, noble Lords may remember that at the Third Reading of the House of Lords Bill in 1999, I sat weeping the whole time. I am certain that my noble friend Lord Strathclyde will not forget, because he had to give me his hankie. All I can remember is people around me saying, ““What’s the matter with you?””. I explained that I had either hay fever or an allergy. But that was not believed, because actually I was heartbroken. Having said that, I warmly welcome this Bill, so my noble friend Lord Strathclyde need not be frightened. I also congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Steel of Aikwood—indeed, all noble Lords who have put the case for the Bill very strongly, none more than the noble Lord, Lord Faulkner, from whom we have just heard. The fact is that we are not going to get consensus on yesterday’s Statement—that is an impossibility. Some people may think that the Bill goes too far, or not far enough. It reminds me of the Big-Enders in Gulliver’s Travels. You cannot please everyone all of the time, but in this Bill we have got rid of certain things that make it easier for us to consider what should be done. For example, the statutory appointments commission will get rid of a problem that all parties have had—particularly given the news today. I do not understand why they would risk going another way. I say to the noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, that I had not intended to talk about the advantages of appointment over elections, but I must say two things. How could we expect some of the people with the expertise that they have gained over years in industry, academia, science and so on to stand for election? We will lose immediately our top-quality people. But how could Members of Parliament in the other place, who clearly have not thought this through and who represent areas where they want to be the big dogs, actually believe that they want more Members of Parliament representing bigger areas pushing those Members out of the way? I have said enough. I wish the Bill every success and hope that the Minister will see it through, so that it at least goes to the other place and gets the hearing it should have. My noble friend Lord Strathclyde said yesterday that there was a previous agreement that we could not change. If he thinks that that is the case, we should go back to the time of King John and the barons and what they agreed to in the Magna Carta. I believe that my noble friend Lord Onslow will agree with me that if that were the case, we would never do anything.