Election of Lord Speaker
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The Lord Privy Seal (Baroness Stowell of Beeston) (Con)
My Lords, I am sure the whole House will wish to join me in offering our congratulations to the noble Lord, Lord Fowler, on being elected Lord Speaker and in offering our support to him as he prepares to take on his new role. I would also like to offer on behalf of the House our thanks to my noble friend Lord Cormack and to the noble Baroness, Lady Garden, for standing in this election. Elections are only possible when there are candidates and we are very grateful to both noble Lords. I would also like to pay a very brief tribute to the noble Baroness, Lady D’Souza, as our most distinguished Lord Speaker. There will be a proper occasion for us to pay tributes after the noble Baroness retires as Lord Speaker—because she remains our most distinguished Lord Speaker until 1 September. In the meantime, I offer my congratulations to the noble Lord, Lord Fowler.
Baroness Smith of Basildon (Lab)
My Lords, I concur with the noble Baroness’s comments. We welcome the opportunity at a later date to pay tribute to the work of the noble Baroness, Lady D’Souza, and to thank her for it. As the noble Baroness, Lady Stowell, said, we warmly congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Fowler. His election shows the high regard in which he is held in this House. He will know that he has the support of the entire House as he undertakes his duties. He will bring both his personality and his political skills to the role.
What we have seen today is a parliamentary first in that this is the first time that a man has been elected to the role of Lord Speaker. Nowadays, there are few positions in public life of which that can be said. I add our sincere thanks to the noble Lord, Lord Cormack, and the noble Baroness, Lady Garden, for not only having put themselves forward as excellent candidates and given us an excellent choice but for the way in which they conducted themselves during the election, which was a great tribute to them and, indeed, to the whole House. Therefore, we thank them and offer our very warm congratulations to our next Speaker.
Business of the House
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Baroness Stowell of Beeston
That Standing Order 72 (Affirmative Instruments) be dispensed with to enable a motion to approve the draft European Union Referendum (Voter Registration) Regulations 2016 laid before the House on 8 June to be moved today, notwithstanding that no report from the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments on the instrument has been laid before the House.
The Lord Privy Seal (Baroness Stowell of Beeston) (Con)
My Lords, I beg to move the first Motion standing in my name on the Order Paper.
Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab)
My Lords, I wonder whether the Leader of the House can help me in relation to business of the House. In the other place, if a Minister misleads the House, it can be raised on a point of order. We do not have that procedure. On Tuesday, the noble Baroness, Lady Verma, told the House that the St Helena airport was open, and it is not. She said that RMS “St Helena” was going to be available to continue taking people on and off the island; at that very moment, RMS “St Helena” was sailing up the Thames, about to be decommissioned, apparently. Could the Leader of the House arrange for the noble Baroness, Lady Verma, to make a Statement to the House next week correcting the mistake she has made and giving us true information about the situation regarding the airport on St Helena?
Baroness Stowell of Beeston
On the procedural point that the noble Lord raised, as he has acknowledged, we do not have points of order in this House. That is an established arrangement in the way we conduct our business. I will have to take away the substantive point that he has raised and explore it further, and give it proper and due consideration.
Business of the House
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Baroness Stowell of Beeston
That the debate on the motion in the name of Lord Haskel set down for today shall be limited to two hours and that in the name of Baroness Smith of Basildon to three hours.
Government and Parliament
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The Lord Privy Seal (Baroness Stowell of Beeston) (Con)
My Lords, I will definitely pick up from where the noble and learned Lord left off and say that this has been an excellent debate. I am very grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Smith, for the way she introduced it and for all the contributions which have been made. It has been a constructive debate and for the most part I, too, agree with much that has been said. I hope we can find lots of common ground in order to make progress towards ensuring that this House is well equipped to do its job. I will respond to some of the important points that have been raised, but perhaps I may start by making a few points from my perspective as the person representing the Government here in this debate.
As Leader of the House I am appointed by the Prime Minister, I am a member of the Cabinet, and I am responsible for the Government’s business in the House of Lords. As has been acknowledged, my party was democratically elected and has a mandate to govern in line with the commitments set out in our manifesto. But I know that to succeed in my job, I have to listen to this House; I really understand that. Moreover, I not only have to listen; sometimes, I have to deliver difficult messages to my Cabinet colleagues. They do not always like what I have to say, but I know that it is my job and something I have to do. I am getting better at it because I think they are getting a bit more used to some of the things I have to tell them. The point I would make to noble Lords is that the Prime Minister and all Ministers in the Government understand the importance of my role because they are Members of Parliament too. They understand that for people to have confidence in the laws Parliament makes, Parliament has an important role in the legislative process.
The noble Baroness acknowledged what I said in my response to the gracious Speech the other week. We also acknowledge that Parliament improves legislation; that is part of what it does. But it is also true that from my perspective in government, when I see the picture from the other end of the telescope, things sometimes look a bit different. As my noble friend Lord Norton pointed out, since the last general election the balance of power has actually shifted more towards Parliament than has been the case for nearly 20 years, because the Government have such a small majority in the Commons and the Conservative Party in this House has no majority whatever. The noble Baroness referred to the approach of the Opposition in this House. I acknowledge a lot of what she said, but it cannot be ignored, as my noble friend Lord Strathclyde said, that in the first Session of this Parliament the Government were defeated on more than half the Divisions that took place in your Lordships’ House. That is significantly higher, I would say to the noble Lord, Lord Richard, than what was experienced when the Labour Party was in government.
We must recognise that the Government of the day are sustained through the confidence of the elected House, and although the Government bring forward their legislation, the legislative process itself is a conversation between the two Houses so when we talk about the balance of power, as has been acknowledged by noble Lords in the debate, we need to be mindful of the balance of power not just between the Government and Parliament but between the two Houses, and that the balance goes both ways. So while it is absolutely right that we in this House have the power and sometimes the responsibility to ask the other place to think again, we must acknowledge at the same time when to take no for an answer, mediated by the conventions that underpin our work. I feel strongly about that because that approach is what helps to protect our legitimacy as an unelected House. That point was very well made by my noble friend Lord Lang, and other noble Lords who have spoken in today’s debate.
The legitimacy of Parliament and of this House also relies on the Government upholding their responsibilities in ensuring that both Houses are able to scrutinise fully our legislation. I recognise that we as a Government have a responsibility to make sure that Parliament has the opportunity to carry out its proper role in holding the Government to account and in scrutinising our legislation. I appreciate what lies behind the concerns raised by noble Lords in that respect, and I will come on to some of the more specific points on secondary legislation, and so on, in a moment.
I would also say—the noble and learned Lord, Lord Wallace, touched on this as well—that as a House, we care very deeply about how we go about our work in scrutinising legislation, and we have made quite a bit of progress over recent years with some new innovations. We now have post-legislative scrutiny committees that have been set up as part of our regime of Select Committees. We ensured that there was more pre-legislative scrutiny in the previous Parliament than in the one before, and we have new things such as topical QSDs. There is more time for Members of this House to scrutinise and hold the Government to account. Yes, Governments do not always get it right. I know that this one and previous Governments, as has been acknowledged, have not always got it right. I have heard loud and clear, both today and through other debates, that there are areas where noble Lords feel strongly that we must do better.
Let me start with skeleton Bills. Sometimes material is brought forward later than is desirable, as was the case with some material emerging after the election. Yes, I want to ensure that as Parliament proceeds, it has the information it needs to do its job. Having gone through one Session, I feel that I have learned lessons that I want to ensure are properly applied by the Government. The first Session of a Parliament is always a bit different from later Sessions because straight after an election, clearly, the Government have to get on with implementing their commitments in their manifesto. Some things require them to get on sooner rather than later, because if they have commitments that they must deliver by the end of that Parliament, they are required to bring forward legislation very early on and they need to get on.
I have learned lessons and I noted very much what the noble Baroness, Lady Taylor, said about some of her experiences when she was Chief Whip and a Minister. I sit on what we now call the Public Bill legislative committee in government. I think that my reputation as a plain speaker, as far as Ministers who bring forward their Bills to that committee are concerned, is starting to get a bit more widespread than it might have been before. I can assure noble Lords that I am taking very seriously my responsibilities to ensure that legislation is brought forward in as complete a fashion as possible.
The noble Baroness, Lady Smith, made many points with which I would agree, and I share her view that this House has to have the right information to do its job properly. I do not accept that we have not welcomed challenge because, as she was good enough to acknowledge, Ministers in this House have engaged quite constructively with Members of your Lordships’ House during the passage of Bills. Yes, a couple of Bills may not have been as well developed as I would have liked, but we did get through 23 Bills in the last Session. By and large, most of them arrived here in greater shape than they might have been—or not necessarily in the shape that some described them. We might have a difference of view on that.
Some skeleton Bills arrive in that way for a purpose. The cities Bill was designed in that way so that we could allow the Government to enter into proper agreements with local authorities. Mention has been made of the buses Bill in this second Session. Again, it has been specifically designed in that way. I do not necessarily argue that all skeleton Bills are bad because that is how they have been prepared.
I move on to the content of legislation, secondary legislation, the number of statutory instruments and the use of Henry VIII powers. The number of statutory instruments was raised by many noble Lords. I cannot let go of the fact that, in the last Session, about 750 pieces of secondary legislation were laid in Parliament. This is the lowest number for more than 20 years. It compares very dramatically with first Sessions of previous Governments over recent times.
Baroness Stowell of Beeston
We can move measurements if we like and start counting pages, but it is a statement of fact. I cannot go back and count all the pages of pieces of secondary legislation from 20 years ago, but I can tell noble Lords that we certainly dramatically reduced the amount of secondary legislation in the last Session.
Baroness Hollis of Heigham
My Lords, we talk about clauses, SI numbers and pages, but what matters and what the noble Baroness has so far not addressed in her constructive response is whether they are heavy-duty SIs carrying a policy load. Nobody has any objection to a number of SIs that technically adjust things such as the timing of when things will be brought in. What matters is whether they carry policy and therefore, by virtue of being SIs, put that policy beyond proper parliamentary scrutiny.
Baroness Stowell of Beeston
We can get into a debate on the detail. I have looked at the content of secondary legislation and how the Government performed in the last Session against the Governments of which the noble Baroness was a member. If she likes, I can trade a range of different examples of where previous Governments were criticised for inappropriate use of secondary legislation, but we are trying to move forward.
On the point raised on Henry VIII powers, I was pleased that the noble Baroness, Lady Taylor, disagreed with the noble and learned Lord, Lord Judge. Like her, that is not something from which I take any pleasure. She is right to point out that it would be impossible for us to do without Henry VIII clauses completely, but that does not mean Parliament should not be very watchful of the Government’s use of such powers. Some are appropriate, in that they are used in appropriate circumstances. For instance, the noble and learned Lord referred to one in the Children and Social Work Bill, which is about to receive its Second Reading in this House. That is designed for a specific purpose. Clearly, as that piece of primary legislation goes through, we will have to debate whether that power is appropriate for what it is designed to do. We can and should have a proper debate about these things but I would not necessarily argue that all of them are open to criticism just because they exist.
As the House knows, the Government have not yet responded to my noble friend Lord Strathclyde’s review of secondary legislation. This was acknowledged by the noble Lord, Lord Butler. We are still considering that report and all the Select Committee reports alongside it. In looking at all these things, as my noble friend Lord Wakeham said—I think this is where we have real agreement in the House—we do not want this House to diminish its influence but we need to ensure that the elected House, the House of Commons, has the final say on all legislation, not just on primary legislation. This is a topic that I know we will continue to discuss and consider.
I note what my noble friend Lord Trefgarne and others said about the conventions that were so hotly disputed. The problem is that we still have among us a lack of agreement on where we are with those conventions. That does not mean that we cannot try to seek some clarity and agreement between us.
The noble Baroness, Lady Smith, made a number of constructive suggestions about steps that could be taken to address these matters. As I say, I think we all agree on the importance of what we are trying to achieve, which is for this House to continue its very important role of scrutinising and revising legislation, and holding the Government to account. I will reflect carefully on some of the noble Baroness’s specific proposals. I note that a lot of the issues she raised—such as Cabinet Office guidance, full impact assessments prior to Secondary Reading debates and draft regulations prior to Committee—are what should happen anyway. That means there is a lot for me to take away and think about. The process is there but I need to ensure that the Government understand their responsibilities in proceeding with and fulfilling that. I will reflect as well on the noble Baroness’s idea of a particular committee to look more broadly at how we prepare for legislation and our various scrutiny procedures in this House.
More than anything, I want to conclude by reinforcing to noble Lords just how much I share with them the objective of trying to make sure that this House is able to do what it exists to do. Like all noble Lords who spoke today, and many more sitting here in the Chamber, we all feel very passionately about the purpose of this House. Noble Lords have heard me say many times that I describe it in this way: this House exists to give the public confidence in the laws that ultimately Parliament makes. I want to ensure that we are always equipped to do that. I will take away the very constructive comments and contributions made today. I will carefully read Hansard again; as noble Lords know, often when one is sitting on the Front Bench it is hard to keep up with everything being said. I am very grateful to the noble Baroness for her introduction to this debate and for everything that she said today about my ministerial team and their efforts to respond constructively to the scrutiny given to the Government’s legislation. I thank all noble Lords for their contributions.
Business of the House
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Baroness Stowell of Beeston
That Standing Order 40 (Arrangement of the Order Paper) be dispensed with on Thursday 9 June to enable the Motion standing in the name of Baroness Smith of Basildon to be taken before the balloted Topical Question for Short Debate in the name of Baroness Jenkin of Kennington.
House of Lords: Composition
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Lord Foulkes of Cumnock
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to make the composition of the House of Lords more representative of the nations and regions of the United Kingdom.
The Lord Privy Seal (Baroness Stowell of Beeston) (Con)
My Lords, Members of your Lordships’ House come from all corners of the United Kingdom, but we do not represent those nations and regions. We all work on behalf of the United Kingdom as a whole. Any change in that respect would be fundamental. As is clear from the Conservative manifesto, comprehensive reform of this House is not a priority in this Parliament.
Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab)
Did the Leader of the House not see the Answer that I received from her colleague in the Ministry of Justice which stated that out of 808 Writs issued to Peers to attend this House in this Parliament, 385 were to Peers living in London, with very few in Wales, in the east and West Midlands, in the north-east and north-west of England and in Yorkshire and Humberside? To reflect all those interests properly, is it not better to have people from all quarters of the United Kingdom? Will the Leader of the House look at ways in which this terrible imbalance can be rectified?
Baroness Stowell of Beeston
My Lords, the noble Lord is right that certain parts of the United Kingdom are better represented than others. I believe that for us to be effective as a House it is important that we all offer a range of backgrounds, experiences and expertise. However, because we are unelected and do not have responsibility to represent any parts of the United Kingdom, it is not an easy question for us to remedy, but it is certainly one that I shall reflect on.
Lord Tyler (LD)
My Lords, does the Leader of the House recall that all her colleagues in the Cabinet of the coalition Government supported the 2012 Bill which would have rectified the problem to which the noble Lord, Lord Foulkes, referred? Does she also recognise that the House of Commons gave that Bill a huge majority, of 338? Does she further recall that the colleagues in the other House of the noble Lord, Lord Foulkes, played party games and prevented that Bill proceeding?
Baroness Stowell of Beeston
The noble Lord is absolutely right that it was in the House of Commons where the Bill failed and did not proceed. In light of that attempt having been made and not succeeding, this party in government has made it clear that it is not something that it wishes to attempt in this Parliament.
Lord Maginnis of Drumglass (Ind UU)
My Lords, the Secretary of State for the Home Department warned us about an increasing threat from dissident IRA, yet when I lobbied each Member of this House from Northern Ireland I learnt that not a single one had been contacted by either the Home Secretary or the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. Does it really matter where we come from if we are treated in that fashion?
Baroness Stowell of Beeston
The Government take seriously their responsibility to consult people about serious and important matters of policy, and that includes consulting Members of your Lordships’ House. I am sad to hear what the noble Lord said but this is usually something that we do very well indeed.
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)
My Lords, I have the figures here. Can the noble Baroness confirm that we have almost as many Members whose main residence is overseas as we do Members who come from the east Midlands? Is it not time for a moratorium on the appointment of new Peers from London and the south-east so that we can rebalance the membership? Come to think of it, should we not have a moratorium on all appointments? Can she confirm that it is her and the Prime Minister’s intention to pack her Benches with yet more Conservative Peers in the next few weeks?
Baroness Stowell of Beeston
New appointments are a matter for the Prime Minister and I am not going to speculate on that. However, this is more complex than just a question of where we come from and where we live. One interesting thing in the data from which the noble Lord is quoting is that there are more Labour Peers than Conservative Peers with London addresses. As an example, I live in London but am from Beeston, just outside Nottingham. Although I do not represent Beeston, I like to think that I bring some knowledge and experience of where I was born and brought up, and I hope that that adds to my contributions in this House.
Baroness Hayman (CB)
My Lords, the noble Baroness the Leader pointed out that the Conservative manifesto said that there would be no comprehensive reform of this House during this Parliament. In so far as that is shorthand for not introducing a Bill for an elected House, it is very welcome to some of us. However, will she make it clear that it does not rule out sensible, incremental reform of your Lordships’ House, which means taking decisive action to reduce the numbers in this House?
Baroness Stowell of Beeston
I agree with the noble Baroness about incremental reform. As she knows, and as I have said before from this Dispatch Box, one of the great achievements in the last Parliament was the incremental reform which we brought in and which she led through her Private Member’s Bill. The other important reform was the facility for Peers in this House to retire—an approach that I very much support. Regarding further steps along that track, if there is broad consensus and we are able to attract cross-party agreement on further incremental reforms, I shall be interested in supporting that. Lady Perry is the most recent example of retirement, and her speech yesterday was a very good illustration of the power of retirement from your Lordships’ House.
Baroness Wall of New Barnet (Lab)
My Lords, does the noble Baroness agree that there is an assumption by my noble friend Lord Foulkes that all of us who live in London now come, like the noble Baroness, from the north-west of England, where we spent most of our lives, and we obviously bring the experiences that we have had there to this House? We may live in London now because it is convenient but our whole background is very different from a background in London.
Baroness Stowell of Beeston
I absolutely agree with the noble Baroness. One of my noble friends who is sitting next to me is a former leader of Trafford council. We bring experiences from all over the country, and I am pleased that we do.
Chairman of Committees
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Baroness Stowell of Beeston
That the noble Lord, Lord Laming, be appointed to take the Chair in all Committees of the House for this Session.
Principal Deputy Chairman of Committees
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Baroness Stowell of Beeston
That the noble Lord, Lord Boswell of Aynho, be appointed Principal Deputy Chairman of Committees for this Session.
Queen’s Speech
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The Lord Privy Seal (Baroness Stowell of Beeston) (Con)
My Lords, first, it is a real pleasure to follow the noble and learned Lord, Lord Wallace, in supporting the Motion of the noble Baroness, Lady Smith. Indeed, I am sure I speak for the whole House in congratulating her on her first State Opening as Leader of the Opposition. Before I go any further, and on behalf of all noble Lords, I join my noble friend Lord King in extending our thanks to Black Rod and all the staff of your Lordships’ House. They have, once again, made this State Opening—the 61st by Her Majesty, in her 90th birthday year—a resounding success.
That might also be the verdict on last week’s lesser-known ceremony of Prorogation, with its Norman French about-turns by the clerks, and synchronised doffing from a crack team of noble Lords. Synchronised doffing is not as easy as it sounds. While I would not like to cast aspersions on the efforts of previous teams, I cannot overlook the glowing reviews from last Thursday: “The best doffing we’ve seen for years”, said one TV commentator; “Superb doffing”, said another; and, my favourite, “We’ve never seen doffing like this before”. Though I thought that it was a bit uncharitable when one media correspondent described it as:
“All the camp incomprehensibility of Eurovision with none of the songs”.
More seriously, the Lord Speaker, the other party leaders, the Convenor and I regularly work together in the best interests of your Lordships’ House. I should of course add the noble Lord, Lord Laming, to that group. We all owe him a debt of gratitude for accepting the Lord Chairman of Committees’ responsibilities in rather unexpected circumstances last summer and for discharging them with such good grace.
My noble friend Lord King is quite right: I did not know what he was going to say in his speech, but I knew that I could rely on him to inform and entertain. It is a great pleasure to congratulate him on his speech, but I just say two things to him: I wish that I were 101 pounds and I would like to put on record that I am not 60 inches, I am 61 inches.
My noble friend and I have crossed paths on several occasions over the years, first at the Ministry of Defence, when he was Secretary of State and I was a civil servant, and later when I became a Whip in your Lordships’ House and he was a member of my flock. My noble friend has always been known for his wisdom and courtesy but it is, perhaps, fair to say that his reputation with the ladies took a hit after his infamous encounter with my other noble friend Lady Trumpington. I have to say that I noted that my noble friend Lady Goldie referred admiringly to his profile, although I do not know whether other noble Lords noticed that. What was most striking when watching the footage of his encounter with my noble friend Lady Trumpington again is not the two-fingered salute itself, but the fact that my noble friend, having had such a response from my noble friend Lady Trumpington, simply ploughed on obliviously.
Fortunately there is another Lady T whose attention he caught for all the right reasons earlier in his career. When Baroness Thatcher made him Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, she was clear as to why he was the right person for the job. “Tom”, she said, “Ulster needs a dose of your manly good sense”. What marks my noble friend out above all is his inner steel. In addition to his time in Northern Ireland he was our Defence Secretary during the first Gulf War and the first chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee. He has seen and lived through many of the great threats this nation has faced, even surviving a terrorist attempt on his own life. That makes his central call today for vigilance in the face of the many threats before us all the more authoritative and it is exactly why the Government have placed our national security at the heart of our programme. Indeed, with the perspective and experience my noble friend brings to his contributions, he really does showcase this House at its best.
We also heard a wonderful speech from my noble friend Lady Goldie. As she said, in the past couple of weeks there has been a remarkable turnaround north of the border; an incredible achievement for Ruth Davidson and the Scottish Conservatives. Ruth won her own Edinburgh Central seat all the way from fourth place, something the Liberal Democrat Members of this House I believe may have noted and taken heart from, especially as the noble and learned Lord describes them as optimistic. But any great project needs solid foundations, and recent Tory successes in Scotland are very much built upon the hard work of my noble friend Lady Goldie as Ruth’s immediate predecessor. My noble friend has now stood down from her seat in Holyrood and will be able to devote more time to her work here. Their loss is our gain, and it means that noble Lords can get to know my noble friend Lady Goldie and the quick wit behind her formidable demeanour rather better.
I am sure that sketch writers everywhere were a bit dismayed today that she did not encounter Prince Philip while he was in the building because legend has it that Prince Philip got short shrift one time when he asked my noble friend if she was wearing tartan knickers. But to be fair, I think that the reporting at the time of that encounter was unfair to His Royal Highness because, having learned of my noble friend’s fondness for what has been described to me as wild swimming off the west coast of Scotland, it seems that His Royal Highness had got the measure of my noble friend Lady Goldie. She is well known for her one-liners and I would not even want to try to share with noble Lords today what she said when she was sat astride a Harley-Davidson. But like my noble friend Lord King, she allies good humour with keen good sense, and today she spoke powerfully on the union, bringing real authority to the subject as a pivotal figure on the Smith commission. As she says, the referendum showed a settled will for us to remain united, but it was the start and not the end of the job at hand. To secure our United Kingdom, we must and we will continue to bring growth, jobs and success to all our nations and regions.
I will come on shortly to the programme that Her Majesty laid out this morning, but before doing so I want to look back on the Session just gone. Last May, there were those who asked what this Government could achieve with a small majority of 12 in the other place and no majority in this House. The answer, and contrary to what has been suggested this afternoon, is a lot. In the course of the past 12 months we have passed 23 Acts into law, delivering on a wide range of the commitments on which we stood at the last general election. We cut tax for 31 million working people, established a national living wage, doubled free childcare for working parents and made it possible for housing association tenants to own their own homes. What is more, we legislated for a referendum on our membership of the European Union, meaning that next month, for the first time in a generation, the people of this country will get to have their say. I hope, as a member of this Government, that they will vote for us to remain part of a reformed EU.
The last Session was an important milestone for this House as well, because even though we are an unelected House, general elections have an impact here too. The Liberal Democrats returned to the opposition Benches, the Labour Party elected new leaders in both Houses—although they are very different from each other—and a majority Conservative Government were outnumbered by the two opposition parties in the Lords for the first time.
For many of the Bills this Government brought forward, such as the EU referendum, welfare reform and trade union Bills, there was apprehension about how this House would approach its scrutiny role. Yet in each of those cases, we made changes through dialogue not endless rounds of ping-pong with the other place. That approach is when this House is at its most effective, because this House improves legislation. Every Minister will agree that their Bill is better for the scrutiny it receives here. Our scrutiny serves an important purpose: to hold the Government to account and to help give the public confidence in the laws Parliament makes.
Upholding our role as a revising Chamber is hugely important to me. But if we want to be legitimate as an unelected House, we have to be mindful of the limits of that role. I believe it must always be for the elected House to have the final say. Our conventions are important because they help to protect that balance. Yes, the Government rely on those conventions to secure their business, but the House and Parliament as a whole also rely on them in order to protect our scrutiny function and our purpose.
There are three very clear themes at the heart of this Session’s programme: delivering security for working people, strengthening our national defences and increasing opportunities for the most disadvantaged. Our first task must always be to ensure that the British economy and British families are secure. To bring the public finances under control, to spread prosperity across our country and to give our police, security and intelligence agencies the powers they need to keep us safe—that is what our programme will do.
However, just as we must keep the people of this country safe and secure, so we must give them a chance to get on in life, because our society cannot be strong and cohesive as long as there are millions of people who feel that doing their best is not respected or not worth the effort. People’s opportunities are still too often shaped by where they started in life and the environment they grew up in. As a society, we have too often put people from certain backgrounds on the track only to certain kinds of jobs.
We have too many talented people unaware of how much they are capable of or what they can achieve. We want that to change. We are determined to give people, whatever their background, the tools—the character, the knowledge and the confidence—to unlock their potential. As someone who has travelled an unconventional path, and as a champion of those who might be starting from a similar place, I could not be prouder to serve in a Government who have made this a priority.
Looking at specific Bills, I am delighted that one of the three starting its passage in this House, the children and social work Bill, is linked to that life chances agenda, helping more young people to get a better start in life. Other Bills shortly to start in your Lordships’ House are the bus services Bill and the cultural property Bill. In addition, we are due to receive two Bills that will carry over from the previous Session: the Investigatory Powers Bill and the Policing and Crime Bill.
I am proud to lead this House into the Session ahead. The work we do is important and we have a vital part to play. Above all, our scrutiny is about helping to give people confidence in the laws Parliament makes. It is that purpose we must all defend and promote.
I look forward to the rest of our debate on the Address and I am delighted to say I support the Motion to Adjourn.
Prorogation: Her Majesty's Speech
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The Lord Privy Seal (Baroness Stowell of Beeston) (Con)
My Lords and Members of the House of Commons, by virtue of Her Majesty’s Commission which has now been read, we do, in Her Majesty’s name, and in obedience to Her Majesty’s Commands, prorogue this Parliament to the 18th day of May, to be then here holden, and this Parliament is accordingly prorogued to Wednesday, the 18th day of May.