Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill

The hon. Gentleman is exactly right: we do seem to be short-changed in this respect. Again, it comes down to Ministers not living the brand. They say they are bringing forward such proposals in the spirit of openness and in an attempt to strengthen the rights of parliamentarians, and therefore the people whom we represent, to some control or ability to debate such matters intelligently, but in order for Parliament to debate it, it first needs to be made more unequivocal that it is our right and duty so to do. Secondly, as the hon. Member for Hendon says, we need to be assured that the Minister will produce reasonable information, written in sensible English that we and our constituents can understand, so that we can have an intelligent debate about it before it is scrambled through in a hurry, only for us to repent at leisure as the years go by and we discover what the complex legal language of the treaty really meant and that it had not been properly explained or debated at the time. Any self-respecting Government who believed in openness, who believed in signing only the treaties that were in the nation's interest and who were proud of the treaties that they wished to sign would see nothing wrong with the hon. Gentleman's proposal and with some of the points that I am making about strengthening the scrutiny and the rights of Parliament. If the Minister cannot give any ground on this issue, that proves, once again, that the Government are not serious about having a stronger Parliament.