Over the past hour or so we have been wrestling with the same problem: that there is a deep unease in this House—and probably down the corridor as well—that our parliamentary procedures are not flexible enough to deal with much legislation that deals with rapid technological change. I refer to the Data Protection Bill, which we will soon be considering. Over the period of my involvement, in both Houses, in broadcasting and the media, often, 10 or 20 years have passed before a new technological development has arrived—for example, the introduction of radio in the 1920s, and then television, slightly delayed by the war, in the 1940s. Now, we can have technological change within months. How do we get the proper legislative framework in which our judges can work, in a system that is rapidly changing under our feet and before our eyes?
Every Minister that I have heard has always said that SIs give both Houses of Parliament a chance to look at something. To the uninitiated, that seems perfectly reasonable. However, particularly at this end of the building, we know that, if there is any attempt to mess around with SIs, all of a sudden the skirts are lifted and there is shame and outrage at what is going on—the second Chamber ignoring the democratic wishes of the other House, because the legislation will have gone through the Commons on the nod, or with hardly any debate. The noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde, is then rolled out to give one of his opinions. The great thing about the noble Lord is that he has given an opinion in favour of almost any argument regarding change in this House, over his long and infamous career—I have enjoyed serving with him for 11 years of it.
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The last time the Commons rejected a statutory instrument was in 1979. The Lords has passed fatal motions on only six occasions since 1950. Between 2004 and 2015, the House of Lords rejected two of 36,000 new regulations made. Let us at least leave this
Bill with the honesty to say that what we have at the moment is not fit for purpose—I hate that term, but I cannot think of a better one—for dealing with legislation such as this, which rests so much on future regulations. I hope the Minister will bring this issue to the attention of his colleagues. Parliament as a whole has to look at how we deal with it, whether through the super-affirmative procedure or some other new device. People have talked about some kind of joint legislation committee of both Houses that could help spot the legislation that is going to need special scrutiny.
The present system does not work, and the distinguished interventions on this Bill have addressed just the tip of the iceberg of problems to come unless Parliament as a whole sets its mind to resolving this issue.