My Lords, I want to make yet another appeal to my noble friends on the Front Bench to pause this ridiculous Bill. We heard a very powerful speech from my noble friend Lord Deben, following another powerful speech from the noble Lord, Lord Hain. Although I understand what both of them said and endorse what both of them said, nothing that they said can make this Bill any better than it is—and it is useless.
In fact, it is worse than useless because on the one hand the Government are saying to us, “We prefer and want to have a negotiated settlement”. Amen to that. But how can you have proper negotiations if at the same time you are obliging Parliament to put you in a straitjacket—one that also confers on you frankly uninhibited powers. The whole thing is contradictory in so many ways.
Yes, we accept that the protocol is not perfect, although it was thrust on us by the Government and willingly entered into by them. Every amendment that comes before us shows that, yes, you can tinker here, you can tinker there, but you cannot make this Bill a good Bill. All the scrutiny from all the learned minds, including that of my noble and learned friend Lord Judge, cannot make this pig’s ear into a silk purse. It is impossible. If we are going to have unfettered negotiations, then for goodness’ sake let us pause the Bill and, as I said the other day, not continue, frankly, to waste Parliament’s time.
6.45 pm
I strongly urge my noble friends to accept the good sense of this proposition. Yes, negotiate. You say you want to negotiate. Well, negotiate. Negotiate without tying your own hands or obliging others to tie them, and go forward in a spirit of genuine desire for reconciliation and agreement. My noble friend Lord Deben just pointed out that, in this one vital area of climate change, the supply of electricity to the island of Ireland, the lifeblood that it needs and without which it cannot survive, is something that this Bill can only make more difficult and make the whole situation one that becomes increasingly impossible to overcome. To quote those famous words, we have “sat too long” on this one and it is time we moved on.