Business of the House

Debate between Lord Christopher and Lord Hamilton of Epsom

Tuesday 26th March 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

My Lords, I am very grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Pannick, for having spelled out that this is not, in the words of the noble Lord, Lord Newby, a frightfully straightforward, simple little exercise. It is actually a very complex issue which raises serious legal questions. Therefore, the Joint Committee should look at it very closely. It should not be bypassed by the Motion that the Leader of the House put in front of us. The noble Lord, Lord Hunt, says that we should be questioning the Prime Minister on this. I only wish we could. Unfortunately, she does not sit in this House, although I am sure my noble friend the Leader will answer for her.

The fact remains that we are trying to bypass our systems. We are upholders of the constitution of this country, and we should seriously question whether this should happen. The opening remarks of my noble friend revealed that the Joint Committee has been asked to look at this and that it could report earlier. Surely, therefore, she can accept the amendment of my noble friend Lord True. If she does, we can go ahead with it quite straightforwardly. There could be an accelerated process of reporting to the House, and we could then get it all done tomorrow, could we not?

[Lord Christopher (Lab)]

My Lords, I hope that the Leader of the House will respond to the point that the noble Lord, Lord Pannick, has raised. There is an indication which has been referred to today—I think in the Financial Times—that extreme people who wish to leave were raising a legal challenge to the fact that we are not leaving at the end of the month.