Legislation

Lord Haskel Excerpts

Thursday 10th November 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Pearson of Rannoch]

My Lords—

[Lord Haskel]

My Lords—

[Lord McNally]

I think it was the noble Lord, Lord Haskel.

[Lord Haskel]

The Leader of the House says there are fewer pages enacted. Is this because the legislation is poorly drafted and requires a lot of work by your Lordships?

[Lord Strathclyde]

No, my Lords, of course not. What is true, however, is that certainly in this Parliament there are more and more amendments being put down by your Lordships. Your Lordships are incredibly active in wishing to see changes or even putting down probing amendments, and that means that we have spent far longer on legislation than we have done in previous Sessions, particularly on Committees of the whole House. That is not necessarily a bad thing but it is also true that your Lordships need to have a little bit of self-denying ordinance so that we do more than just delay the programme of government.