Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill

The right hon. and learned Gentleman is right that there is that difference of opinion, but it seems to me that we have never got to that important part of the debate. However, we are not talking about that issue, but about the abolition of by-elections for the hereditary peers. I still come back to his Front Benchers' lack of enthusiasm for progress; the hon. Member for City of York (Hugh Bayley) was right to ask about that. The hon. Member for Cannock Chase mentioned the phrase, "third-term issue", which has been bandied about, and which the Leader of the Opposition perhaps used. It is not clear whether he used the phrase, but it is clear that in Total Politics magazine last year, when asked about House of Lords reform, he said:""to be frank it is not an urgent priority"." That is on the record.