Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill

I am grateful to the Secretary of State for giving way. He may agree with me that whatever Lord Steel may say, the commitment that was given by Lord Irvine in clear and unequivocal terms—I shall quote only a small part of it—was that "the 10 per cent.", namely the remaining elected hereditaries,""will go only when stage two has taken place. So it is a guarantee that it will take place."—[Official Report, House of Lords, 30 March 1999; Vol. 599, c. 207.]" The right hon. Gentleman may agree that that and Lord Steel's comments are on two completely different topics. The temporary arrangement may have lasted a long time, but why should Lord Irvine's guarantee not remain good, seeing that stage 2 has not yet occurred?