Parliamentary Standards Bill

My Lords, once again, the noble Lord is very kind in giving way. The fundamental difficulty about the Bill is that it tries to do two separate things, one of which is wholly laudable and that is to deal with the immediate problem of expenses and how they are dealt with. The other is the quite separate question of financial interests; an extremely complicated matter involving the privileges of Parliament and the relationship between Parliament and the courts, which deserves long and careful consideration before we come to any legislative decisions, if those decisions are indeed necessary. The difficulty we face is that both those issues have been bundled into one document. The first needs urgent consideration; the second needs long reflection.