Foreign Policy: Parliamentary Participation

Debate between Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon and Lord Grabiner

Monday 19th March 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

I would not be as brave as the noble Lord and predict how long Parliament will sit tomorrow but, as he conceded, on the government side, we listen carefully to his words, as was demonstrated only last week.

In terms of ensuring parliamentary scrutiny, this is about taking back control and ensuring that every piece of legislation is scrutinised by Parliament. Indeed, when we discussed the EU sanctions Bill, I responded positively, I hope, on ensuring the affirmative nature of secondary legislation. As for parliamentary scrutiny of the EU withdrawal Bill specifically, look at the number of hours it was debated in the House of Commons. I turn to my noble friend who sits not too distant from me to consider the hours he and his team and other noble friends on the Front Bench are spending on this issue. I am sure the noble Lord would acknowledge that the Government are ensuring that there is full scrutiny of all legislation, including the EU withdrawal Bill.

[Lord Grabiner (CB)]

Reverting to the form of the Question from the noble Viscount, Lord Waverley, is it not an established constitutional convention that where legislation trespasses into the territory of the royal prerogative, the royal prerogative simply falls away? If that is right, it is not an exercise in making fresh legislation to determine when, how and why the royal prerogative should have status in any particular context; it is simply a question of whether the new legislation traverses the territory of the royal prerogative. Does the Minister agree?

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

The issue of the royal prerogative is well understood. EU legislation is currently scrutinised by different committees within Parliament but, as I alluded to in my Answer, where the UK is directly a party to a particular treaty, the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 requires treaties to be laid before Parliament, which includes their scrutiny, before ratification.