Protecting children and strengthening the Union

It would be remiss of us not to ask you about the police crime and sentencing bill, which I know the committee looked at last September, given that this week there was a record number of government defeats on the bill.

So, I mean, the committee, I think, reviewed the bill last September, as I say, and warned that the size and complexity of the bill made it difficult for effective parliamentary scrutiny.

And obviously, as I say, the government was defeated a number of times on that.

Was that inevitable? Did you see that coming?

I think there was a degree of inevitability about it, and we were very critical.

And we've been critical on other bills.

But on this particular bill, it wasn't just the bill as it was originally looked at last September.

The extra additional very significant problem was that whole chunks of legislation and provisions were being put in at the last minute that hadn't been looked at by the Commons at all.

And therefore, we were presented almost with a supplementary bill, piggybacking on the basic bill.

And that's why there was so much disquiet about that, and that's why there were so many votes.

But really, that sort of brings up the other side of respect and cooperation.

You know, we have separation of powers in this country.

And Parliament has a role and the executive has a role.

And you've got to have respect for both roles.

So, Parliament has got to respect the fact that the government makes decisions, but it has to be accountable to Parliament.

But when it comes to legislation, governments need to reassess, I think, their approach to legislation, because too often Parliament is not given the information that it requires.

to fully go into the implications of the changes that the government wants to make.

That was there in a mega way on Monday.

But I think it's a creeping trend that Parliament itself has got to be very careful of.

And the Constitution Committee has expressed concerns about this in the past.

And if it goes on, I think they will be expressing very significant concerns in the future.

I mean, I think the only thing I would add is, you know, when I was a government minister, I always felt that departments really didn't fully understand how the House of Lords worked.

And, you know, it's sort of legislative teams were very much geared to the House of Commons.

But actually, you know, the House of Lords can have a big impact on the legislative process.

And I did find it strange that you know, these new clauses and package of clauses was brought in at the last minute because it seemed to me a very strange legislative strategy.