Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill

We come to the main issue, which is about the way in which the Government have chosen to attempt to fulfil their promise, in "The Governance of Britain" Green Paper, to shift power towards the House and away from themselves. I fear that in clause 24, they have failed to do so. There cannot be many countries where the power to ratify a treaty rests solely with the Executive branch—with the Government. There is, as the hon. Member for Stone (Mr. Cash) said, a safeguard, which the courts created—the so-called dualist theory of international law, whereby the ratification of a treaty by the Government does not by itself change the domestic law of this country. But, it is still a thoroughly bad thing that the Government can, by themselves, bind this country in international law and then come to the House and say, "If you don't incorporate the international obligations that we have just made into domestic law, this country will be in breach of international law."