Cabinet Manual: Guidelines for Government Formation

Lord Pack Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)]

The Prime Minister remains in place, and he has our full and utter confidence.

[Lord Pack (LD)]

My Lords—

[Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (GP)]

My Lords—

[Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (GP)]

They have had a go.

[Lord Pack (LD)]

The Rycroft review warned that our fragmented statute book—with redundant provisions left unrepealed, measures passed by Parliament never commenced and consolidation deferred again and again over many decades—poses a genuine practical risk to our democracy and our national security, yet the Cabinet Manual section on legislation omits those basic housekeeping tasks of commencement and consolidation. Will the Minister commit to consulting fully on ensuring that those key tasks are included in the next edition of the Cabinet Manual?

[Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)]

My Lords, given that the current manual is being redrafted as we speak, it would be inappropriate for me to comment on the detail. However, to reassure Members of your Lordships’ House, we have asked both the Lords Constitution Committee and PACAC in the other place for their assistance on the consultation with parliamentarians across both Houses. How they choose to do so will be a matter for them.