Parliamentary Standards Bill

Before we proceed, I have one or two questions for clarification. Would I be right that, if your Lordships voted that Clause 8 should not stand part, the Theft and Fraud Acts would still be Acts of Parliament and would therefore apply? I would like that answer. As your Lordships know, I felt that we should never have hurried our deliberations on the Bill; I managed to annoy all my noble friends on the Front Bench not only by arguing that but by voting for it. However, we committed ourselves—with me dissenting—to getting the Bill through by Tuesday. I will not dally on why or how we committed to it, but we certainly did it. It seems to me that we are honour bound to go through with that since it is what we decided. I therefore ask, on procedure: if we decided that Clause 8 should not stand part today, is it within our rules that it could stand part again on Report, or would it be gone for ever with no way of getting it back? I have forgotten the rules, which is why I ask the question. Equally, if we let it stand part today, can we un-stand part it next week? I think that we can do it that way round. It would help us all if we knew exactly what we were allowed to do procedurally. Much as I was totally opposed to this, we must not forget that, as a matter of your Lordships’ honour, we really have to deliver the Bill by Tuesday.