Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill

In debate on the clause we have seen that, despite the high principles set out in the consultation paper, the Green Paper and the White Paper, and the promises to the Joint Committee on the draft Constitutional Renewal Bill, if we actually examine the detail in the Bill we see that the powers that the House will have to stop the ratification of a treaty fall far short of the ideals that were promised at the start. Members have outlined clearly the importance of international treaties and their impact on the lives of individuals in the United Kingdom. We want, and should have, proper scrutiny of the laws that we pass in this House, and so it should be with international treaties. However, let us look at what is in the Bill. As the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr. Heath) pointed out, the treaty will be""published in a way that a Minister of the Crown thinks appropriate"." The Minister may well explain what that means later, but if we take that at face value, immediately we see that if a Minister wants to push a treaty through, or ratify a treaty that people have some reluctance about, the provisions relating to how it is written up and presented will make it possible for the House not to have all the information. Secondly, the Bill requires a treaty to be put before the House, but the negative procedure is used. In other words, people will actively have to decide whether a treaty is sufficiently important, even though it may have been presented in a way that the Minister thinks appropriate, which may not alert people to the full implications of the treaty. Someone has to undertake an activity to bring the matter before the House in the first place.