I am going to make some progress.
On 6 December, the Secretary of State for Scotland was asked by MPs across this House about the amendments to clause 11. He said:
“The answer is that it will happen on Report”—
the stage we are at now. He added:
“We have been very clear about this”—
terribly clear it would seem—
“The Committee stage is about listening and adapting to issues…we will table amendments to clause 11.”—[Official Report, 6 December 2017; Vol. 632, c. 1021.]
They have not. Now we are at the stage where this will go to the House of Lords. It is a democratic abomination that the Scottish Parliament will have less of a say, and this House consequently will have less of a say, than the House of Lords. The Scottish Conservatives seem to be embarrassed about that. I wonder whether they are joined by anybody else who is even remotely embarrassed.