Scotland Act 1998 (Modification of Schedule 5) Order 2013

Lord Elystan-Morgan Excerpts

Wednesday 16th January 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kerr of Kinlochard]

That is precisely the point that I am trying to make. Is the reference to “intelligibility” in some way limited to it or could it be construed in a court of law as in some way limiting the normal role of the Electoral Commission and its role envisaged in 2009?

[Lord Elystan-Morgan]

Is not the agreement made between the Prime Minister and the Scottish First Minister a gentleman’s agreement? It is not an international treaty, which can be made only between sovereign states. Although everything that the noble Lord says has every relevance in the moral context, in terms of legal consequence and strict constitutionality it must be the case that it is no more and no less than a gentleman’s agreement, binding, of course, as it is.

[Lord Kerr of Kinlochard]

That is where I was going, although I would like to hear the Minister’s answer to my question on how one reads paragraphs 8 and 12 together.