Parliamentary Standards Bill

I accept that new clause 11, in relation to where it fits in the jigsaw of the process, might need tidying up. That is a fair point, but I am more concerned about the principle of the requirement for a fair hearing, and my right hon. Friend still has not said whether he objects in principle to proposed new paragraphs (a) to (f) as far as IPSA is concerned. They are the minimum requirements of natural justice and of article 6. My right hon. Friend expressed his reservations about proposed new paragraph (g), but it provides for exactly what the Commissioner for Standards and Privileges does now. If my right hon. Friend says that the Bill takes nothing away from the rights of Members, he has nothing to fear from proposed new paragraph (g), because the commissioner applies a much higher standard in the most serious cases than he does in the more trivial ones, and so he should, because that is the requirement of article 6.