Arrangement of Business

Lord Harper Excerpts

Friday 30th January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Blackstone (Lab)]

My Lords, my noble friend the Chief Whip has rightly pointed to the lack of progress we are making on this Bill. Part of the problem is not how much time we spend on each amendment, but the number of amendments that have been put down, which is unprecedented. I hope that those who are opposed to the Bill will accept that many of us who are in favour of it understand completely the good faith of those who are querying some aspects of it. What we are worried about is that we are not going to be able properly to consider the Bill because of the time being taken on many amendments—quite often rather absurd ones, and some of which completely repeat what has already been brought forward.

Lastly, in defence of my noble and learned friend the Bill’s sponsor, he has responded in these debates with courtesy and consideration and has taken seriously what has been said. It is very unfair to criticise him. He has also responded in a letter, as has already been stated, setting out which amendments he intends to take further and come up with a response to on Report.

[Lord Harper (Con)]

My Lords, responding directly to that point, it is indeed true that the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer, wrote to some members yesterday. Sadly, I did not receive his letter directly from him, but it was forwarded to me. Part of the problem here, directly relating to the noble Baroness’s question, is that the Committees of this House reported some months ago—the Delegated Powers Committee, for example, reported in September. If this was a Government Bill, the Minister would have been expected to set out a thorough, detailed response to all these points before we started Committee stage. We received a letter only yesterday from the noble and learned Lord, setting out his points, and in most cases, he said that the amendments would follow later. Had that happened earlier, many amendments would not have needed tabling. If the noble Baroness is looking for the reason for the delay, it is not just on one side of the House.

[Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op)]

Briefly—we have now been discussing this for 30 minutes, so maybe we can get on to the Bill shortly—this is not a Government Bill and it is not going to become one. My noble and learned friend always deals courteously with the House and has great stamina, staying here to deal with all these matters. There are an unprecedented number of amendments before the Committee, but if we all work together, we can make more progress on the Bill, and that is what we should be seeking to do. All the amendments have been put down in good faith, and we should accept that, deal seriously with the issues and work on that basis.

I do not believe that anyone is acting in bad faith here, and I would never suggest that. However, we need to work together to make more progress. We have had quite a number of days in Committee now, and not much progress has been made. If this were a Government Bill, I would be very agitated that we are making so little progress. However, I accept that it is not a Government Bill, and it will not become one. However, having now had nearly 32 minutes on questions, we need to move on to the substance and try to make more progress.